Josh Ellis, Erin Wagner named Polar Bear of the Month winners for September

By Wes Mayberry

ADA — Senior soccer player Josh Ellis (Whitehouse/Anthony Wayne) and sophomore volleyball player Erin Wagner (Massillon/Perry) have been selected as the Ohio Northern athletic department's Polar Bear of the Month award winners for September.

Ellis, a goalkeeper, started all nine of the ONU men's soccer team's September games, recording 26 saves and four shutouts while contributing an assist offensively as the Polar Bears posted a 5-2-2 overall record.

He was named Ohio Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 19 after tallying a combined eight saves in shutout victories over Ohio Wesleyan and Hanover (Ind.).

The Polar Bears closed September riding a six-game unbeaten streak that included four shutout victories, and Ellis is currently tied for fifth in the OAC with 31 saves on the season.

He is tied for 10th all-time at ONU in career shutouts with six.

Wagner, a right-side hitter, helped lead the ONU volleyball team to a 10-5 record in September while garnering MVP honors at the ONU Invitational and earning an OAC Offensive Player of the Week accolade on Sept. 19.

She tallied 184 kills, averaging 3.35 per set, and recorded 3.5 points per set during the month.

Her OAC Player of the Week award came on the heels of her MVP performance in the ONU Invitational in which the Polar Bears went 3-0 against DePauw (Ind.), Earlham (Ind.) and Wisconsin-Oshkosh to win the championship.

In that three-game stretch, Wagner tallied a combined 40 kills, including a career-high 20 against UWO. She also had a team-best 15 kills in a sweep of Bluffton earlier that week.

She currently ranks third in the OAC with 199 kills on the season and is second in the conference with a .355 hitting percentage.