Box Score

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein University volleyball team tallied an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) victory Tuesday evening, taking down Marietta College in four sets by scores of 25-17, 20-25, 25-20, 25-12.

With the win, the Cardinals clinch at least the No. 7 seed in next week's OAC Tournament and improve themselves to 12-16 overall, 3-5 against the league. Otterbein can earn the sixth seed with a win over Mount Union Friday night in the Rike Center.

Otterbein opened the match strong, jumping out to a 9-4 lead and extending the margin behind the serve of senior Gracie Staten in the middle of the game, easing to a 25-17 win.

Marietta (9-17, 2-6 OAC) responded in the second frame, breaking free after ties at 7-7, 8-8 and 9-9 to ultimately assume a 15-12 lead. Otterbein won three-straight points later in the set to claw within 22-20, but the Pioneers answered with three of their own to even the match.

The Cards flew out to an 11-3 lead in the third and hung on for victory down the backstretch. Marietta had chipped away to cut the lead down to 22-20, but it was Otterbein who answered with three-straight points this time to snag the 2-1 advantage.

The fourth set would be all Cardinals, winning the first seven points and never looking back in coasting to victory.

Sophomores Morgan Lowenkamp and Marie Thornton each blasted 11 kills to lead the Otterbein offense, which hit .287 as a group and also got 10 kills from senior Kasey White. Middle hitter Ashton Riffle ripped off nine more of her own.

Setters Andrea Miller and Lauren Blumberg combined for 43 assists while Staten and classmate Maddy Shelley combined for 29 digs.

Senior right-side hitter Devin Walter was impressive for Marietta despite the losing effort, going for a match-high 18 kills on 44 attempts. Mallory Vodopich contributed nine kills while tying Miller for a match-high 24 helpers up front.