Box Score

ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Otterbein University volleyball program earned its first-ever conference championship Saturday afternoon, winning in four sets over host University of Mount Union in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament title match.

Otterbein moves to 26-7 this fall, and will now wait until Monday morning for the release of the NCAA Tournament bracket. Mount Union receives the league's automatic qualifier spot due to advancing to the title game as the regular-season champion, but the Cards are also anticipating a bid to the "big dance."

The Raiders, meanwhile, suffer their first home loss of the season in falling to 26-6.

The host Purple Raiders jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the opening set, but the Cards settled in to draw within 13-12 after a kill from junior Annie Juenger.

Otterbein remained within a point after a Juenger service ace two points later, but Mount responded to open a 20-16 lead and force a Cardinal timeout. Otterbein couldn’t recover in dropping the first, 25-18.

The Cardinals stormed out on fire in the second set, winning the first six points to prompt a Mount timeout. Otterbein remained ahead at 16-9, but Mount found the momentum with an 8-0 run to take a 17-16 edge.

Otterbein withstood the rush, rallying to win nine of the set’s final 12 points, capped with a service ace, to even the match at 1-1.

Mount held a 6-5 advantage early in set three, but the Cardinals rebounded with five-consecutive points in forcing head coach Leigh Ann Swartz to call a timeout on the Mount bench.

The Raiders climbed back and the set would eventually see ties at 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, and 20 before the Cards found some breathing room at 22-20. Otterbein would tack on the next two points before prevailing with the 25-22 third-set win.

Otterbein played from behind to open the fourth frame, but found its stride and ultimately gained a 14-12 advantage after a block from Palmer and a kill from senior Kristen Bennett. Mount Union hung close temporarily, but Otterbein later widened the gap to 22-17 before a finishing kill from Bennett would secure the title.


“This is a very special moment for our program, “sixth-year head coach Monica McDonald said. “We have great players and have been continuing to get better every season. We had the talent to win the conference entering this season, and it just needed to all come together. I thought it was disappointing to lose to Mount the first time around, but I couldn’t be happier with how we responded today.”

Bennett and Juenger each finished with a match-best 14 kills, and setter Tabatha Piper handed out a match-high 34 assists. Piper also tied with Emily Caldwell for a team-high 17 digs.

Otterbein controlled the net for the second day in a row, posting 12 total blocks compared to just two for Mount.

“We fell behind early, but it’s been characteristic of our team to battle back at all times this season,” McDonald said of dropping the first set. “I never count my girls out of a match.”

Mount Union’s Nicole Snyder, who narrowly edged out Piper for the 2012 OAC Player of the Year, tallied 10 kills, and four errors, on 39 chances to finishing with a .154 percentage.

Watch the NCAA Tournament selection show on Monday morning, 11 a.m., by clicking here.