Volleyball: Ohio Northern (11-5 Overall, 1-0 OAC) at #17 Otterbein (14-4 Overall, 2-0 OAC)
Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022, 7 p.m. – Rike Center, Westerville, Ohio
Wednesday's Preview: Ohio Northern continues Ohio Athletic Conference play on Wednesday at Otterbein in a rematch of last season's OAC Tournament championship game … Northern won that match 3-0 to advance to the NCAA Tournament … The Polar Bears are coming off Saturday's 3-0 win at Mount Union to open conference play … The sweep came by scores of 25-19, 25-12, 25-21 … Sophomores Sonia Dahlin and Erin Wagner led ONU with 16 and 15 kills, respectively … Sophomore Rachel Jennings recorded 25 digs to go with 42 assists from freshman Caroline Hensley and five blocks from sophomore Lauren James … Entering Wednesday's game, Wagner ranks third in the OAC with 199 kills and ranks second with a .355 hitting percentage … Dahlin and junior Ava Ehlinger rank second and third on the team with 149 and 127 kills, respectively … Jennings ranks sixth in the OAC with 284 digs … Sophomore Grace Conrad ranks sixth in the OAC with 418 assists … James is tied for seventh in the OAC with 44 blocks … Fifth-year senior Hannah Irmer has 1,480 career digs, which ranks ninth on the program's all-time career digs list and is 13th among active Division III players … Irmer ranks third among active Division III players in sets played (439) and seventh in matches played (119) … Otterbein enters Wednesday's game ranked No. 17 nationally in this week's AVCA poll … OU was picked to win the conference in the OAC Preseason Poll … The Cardinals are coming off Saturday's 3-0 win at Capital by scores of 25-19, 25-20, 25-13 … Junior Morgan Hartman and sophomore Kennedy Hoffman led OU with 13 and 10 kills, respectively, while senior Bridget Oder added 20 digs … OU hit .308 in the match … Hartman (211), senior Amber Greeley (170) and Hoffman (167) lead OU in kills … Hartman ranks second in the OAC in kills, and Greeley ranks third in the conference with a .343 hitting percentage … Senior Carlie Craycraft ranks second in the OAC with 515 assists … Oder ranks seventh in the OAC with 265 digs … Junior Madison McCoy is tied for ninth in the OAC with 41 blocks.
ONU Statistical Leaders:
| Kills | Blocks | Aces | Digs | Assists | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Wagner | 199 | 1. | James | 44 | 1. | Dahlin | 25 | 1. | Jennings | 284 | 1. | Conrad | 418 | ||||
| 2. | Dahlin | 149 | 2. | Dahlin | 39 | 2. | Jennings | 23 | 2. | H. Irmer | 170 | 2. | Hensley | 213 | ||||
| 3. | Ehlinger | 127 | 3. | Wagner | 27 | 3. | H. Irmer | 21 | 3. | G. Irmer | 119 | 3. | Jennings | 27 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Otterbein by a 55-9 margin, including 22-5 in Westerville … ONU has won four of the past five meetings … The teams met twice last season, as the Polar Bears won 3-1 at home during the regular season and 3-0 at home in the OAC Tournament finals.
Head Coach Katie Kuhn: Kuhn is in her third season as the head women's volleyball coach at Ohio Northern … She owns a 46-14 career record for a winning percentage of .767 and is 22-4 (.846 winning percentage) in Ohio Athletic Conference games … She was named OAC Coach of the Year and AVCA Region 7 Coach of the Year in 2021 after leading the Polar Bears to OAC Regular Season and Tournament championships.