Volleyball: #24 Otterbein (23-4 overall) at #17 Ohio Northern (21-5 Overall) – OAC Tournament Finals

Saturday, November 6, 2021, 2 p.m. – ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio

| Match Program (.pdf) | OAC Tournament Page |

Saturday's Preview: Saturday's Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament championship game pits No. 17 Ohio Northern against defending champion No. 24 Otterbein … The winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships … Top-seeded Ohio Northern is seeking its league-leading 22nd OAC Tournament championship in program history … Northern has now advanced to the championship game 29 times in the tournament's 38-year history … ONU has a 71-15 all-time record in the OAC Tournament … The Polar Bears defeated Otterbein in 5 sets in 2019 to claim its latest OAC Tournament title … ONU has won 27 of the 38 regular-season titles since the league began sponsoring volleyball as a championship sport in 1984 … Northern defeated Otterbein 25-19, 25-16, 21-25, 25-19 in the teams' regular-season meeting on Oct. 27 … Freshmen Taylor Baxter (12 kills, 6 blocks), Erin Wagner (10 kills) and Rachel Jennings (22 digs) led the way in that game … The Polar Bears hit .259 to Otterbein's .189 in the contest … ONU is coming off Thursday's 23-25, 25-14, 25-23, 25-10 semifinal win at home over fourth-seeded Mount Union … Senior Melina Woods (14 kills), Baxter (13 kills, 6 blocks) and Jennings (24 digs) led the way for ONU in that game … Woods leads the team with 282 kills, which ranks seventh in the OAC … Baxter has an OAC-leading 111 blocks and ranks ninth in the conference in kills (266) … Baxter (.337) and Woods (.324) rank third and fourth, respectively, in the OAC in hitting percentage … Jennings has earned two straight OAC Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week awards and ranks second in the conference in aces (49) and fifth in digs (476) … Senior Kiki Carle ranks fourth in the OAC with 719 assists, and her 1,877 career assists rank eighth all-time at ONU … Senior Hannah Irmer has 1,299 career digs, which is 109 short of tying Molly Schrader ('99-'02) at 1,408 for 10th on the program's all-time leaderboard in that category … Jennings' 49 aces are the fourth-most by a freshman in program history, and her 476 digs are fifth-most by a freshman in program history … Baxter's 111 blocks are fourth-most by a freshman in program history … Second-seeded Otterbein is making its fourth appearance in the OAC Tournament finals, all of which have come since 2012 … The Cardinals boast 3 tournament championships (2012, 2017, 2020) and one runner-up finish (2019) … OU is coming off Thursday's 25-12, 25-19, 25-22 sweep of third-seeded Muskingum at home in the OAC semifinals … Junior Bridget Oder had 11 digs to surpass the 1,000 mark for her career while sophomore Morgan Hartman added 14 kills and hit .542 in the game … Oder ranks sixth in the OAC in digs (466), while Hartman ranks fifth in kills (330) and tied for third in aces (43) … Senior Emma Linehan leads the OAC in hitting percentage (.368) … Junior Carlie Craycraft ranks second in the OAC in assists (1,011) and tied for sixth in aces (40).

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Otterbein by a 54-9 margin, including 23-4 in Ada and 5-1 in the OAC Tournament … ONU won 45 straight games over OU from 1970 to 2010 … The teams' last meeting was a 3-1 ONU home win on Oct. 27 … The teams' last OAC Tournament meeting was a 3-2 ONU home win in the 2019 championship game.

Head Coach Katie Kuhn: Kuhn is in her second season as the head women's volleyball coach at Ohio Northern with a 34-8 record, an .810 winning percentage.