#17 Volleyball defeats #24 Otterbein, wins 22nd OAC Tournament championship

By Wes Mayberry

ADA — The Ohio Northern volleyball team is the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament champion once again.

The No. 17 Polar Bears defeated No. 24 Otterbein 25-14, 25-21, 25-20 at the ONU Sports Center on Saturday afternoon to win the program's 22nd OAC Tournament championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

"The girls came out ready to play, and we had one of our best performances of the season against a very good team in Otterbein," second-year head coach Katie Kuhn said. "I'm very proud of the girls for buying into the growth process, and the support from our home crowd was amazing."

ONU's tournament destination and opponent will be announced during the NCAA Selection Show on NCAA.com Monday beginning at 12:30 p.m.

This is the Polar Bears' fourth OAC Tournament championship in the past six seasons.

ONU, which also won the conference's regular-season championship, improves to 22-5 overall while dropping second-seeded Otterbein to 23-5.

Senior Melina Woods (Ada) earned tournament MVP honors.

"Melina has had an excellent season," Kuhn said. "She really stepped up in the tournament, and I'm really proud of her. Her demeanor on the court has been exceptional."

Senior Kiki Carle (Cincinnati/Mother of Mercy) and freshman Taylor Baxter (Bellevue) joined Woods on the All-Tournament Team.

Woods and Baxter each finished with a team-high 11 kills and hit .647 and .500, respectively.

Woods was error-free on 17 total attempts, while Baxter committed just two errors on 18 attempts and added four blocks.

Carle finished with 20 assists.

Sophomore Sydney Eggleton (Southfield, Mich./Farmington) also came up big for the Polar Bears with 10 kills while making just one error on 18 attempts. She also had four blocks.

Emma Linehan (10 kills), Bridget Oder (10 digs) and Carlie Craycraft (24 assists) led the way for the Cardinals.

The Polar Bears, who defeated the Cardinals in four sets in the teams' regular-season meeting, came out strong on Saturday, hitting .586 en route to a dominating 25-14 win in the opening set.

ONU took an 11-5 lead in the first set and closed it out on a 14-9 run to set the tone.

Otterbein rebounded for what was a much tighter second set that featured 16 tie scores.

Consecutive kills from Eggleton put ONU up 22-20, and the Polar Bears went on to win the set 25-21 on a kill from freshman Erin Wagner (Massillon/Perry).

Looking to close out the sweep, the Polar Bears scored the first three points of the third set but found themselves in another battle, as Otterbein fought back to take a 13-12 lead.

Three straight kills from Woods, Carle and freshman Emma Strozewski (Lakeville, Minn./North) later put ONU up 17-14, giving the Polar Bears the cushion they needed to secure the victory.

A kill from Linehan brought the Cardinals within three, 22-19, but ONU scored three of the next four points for the 25-20 win.

A Baxter kill provided the match-winner for ONU.

The Polar Bears hit .386 in the match with 44 kills and 10 errors on 88 total attempts.

Otterbein hit .234 with 39 kills and 14 errors on 107 attempts.