Box Score

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The 23rd-ranked Otterbein University volleyball team survived a scare Wednesday evening, overcoming a slight deficit to defeat visiting Mount St. Joseph in five sets inside the Rike Center.

Otterbein (3-2) came out sluggish, dropping the opening set 21-25 before rebounding to easily take set two, 25-16.

Mount St. Joseph (0-1) proved it would be going nowhere, fighting back to outlast the Cardinals 25-23 in what was a tight third set throughout.

Otterbein stood its ground and held off defeat, winning two-straight points at the end of the fourth set after being tied 23-23.

The Lions crept to an early 5-2 lead in the fifth frame, but Otterbein responded yet again en route to a 15-10 final-set victory.

Otterbein junior Annie Juenger led all players with 17 kills on 42 attempts, but did commit 12 errors in the process for just a .119 hitting percentage.

Junior Liz Palmer and sophomore Kim Barker were impressive, combining for 23 kills and just five errors. Both hit over .450 for the night, with the 10 kills marking a new career-high for Barker.

Sophomore Kendel Kellogg came off the Cardinal bench to contribute nine kills, while senior Kristen Bennett tallied eight on 18 chances from the right-side.

Sophomore setter Tabatha Piper, celebrating her 20th birthday, dished out a staggering 54 assists to fall just one shy of her career-high. She also added four kills and nine digs.

Evelyn Carus and Emma Beyer came up with a combined 27 digs in relief of usual libero Emily Caldwell, who exited after just two sets.

Three players tallied double-digit kills for MSJ, led by 14 from both Hannah Vanarsdall and Nicole Sherpensky. Libero Jaclyn Stenger posted a match-best 17 digs in the losing effort.

Otterbein now heads to the Washington University in St. Louis Invitational this weekend, where it will face four ranked opponents. The team opens against No. 24 Concordia College (Minn.) Friday at 3 p.m.