No. 23 Volleyball splits pair of games on final day of Denison Invitational

By Wes Mayberry

GRANVILLE — The No. 23 Ohio Northern volleyball team went 1-1 in a pair of games on Saturday, defeating Houghton (N.Y.) 3-0 before falling 3-2 to Denison to close out its Denison Invitational slate at Livingston Gymnasium.

The Polar Bears close the week at 2-1 overall, as they opened their 2022 season with a 3-2 win over Centre (Ky.) in the Denison Invitational on Friday.

Houghton is 0-3 overall, and Denison is 2-1 overall.

Northern made relatively easy work of Houghton in the first game of the day, getting the three-set sweep by scores of 25-15, 25-21 and 25-10.

Fifth-year senior Melina Woods (Ada) led the Polar Bears with 12 kills while posting a .417 hitting percentage.

Sophomore Erin Wagner (Massillon/Perry) added six kills to go with five from sophomore Lauren James (Farmington Hills, Mich./North Farmington).

Sophomore Grace Conrad and freshman Caroline Hensley (Loveland/Bishop Fenwick) each posted a team-best 13 assists, and sophomore Sonia Dahlin led the way with five aces.

Fifth-year senior Hannah Irmer (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) had nine digs for ONU.

Julie Immel had a team-high six kills for Houghton.

The Polar Bears finished with a .338 hitting percentage to Houghton's .165.

Northern followed up that victory by falling 19-25, 25-17, 25-14, 19-25, 9-15 in a tight battle with Denison.

Four Polar Bears finished with double-digit kill totals in the game. Wagner led the way with 15 to go with 13 from Woods, 11 from junior Ava Ehlinger (New Carlisle/Tecumseh) and 10 from Dahlin, who also had five aces.

Hensley tallied a team-best 23 assists to go with 18 from Conrad.

Hannah Irmer led ONU with 17 digs to go with 12 from junior Grace Irmer (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) and 11 from sophomore Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.).

Lucy Anderson and Natalie Hutras led Denison with 13 and 12 kills, respectively.

The Polar Bears return to action on Tuesday for their home opener against Ohio Wesleyan at 7 p.m.