Box Score

TIFFIN, Ohio – The Otterbein women's volleyball team, back on the court after an 11-day varsity layoff, was dealt a four-set loss at Heidelberg University Wednesday evening in what was the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) opener for both teams.

The Cardinals, falling to 9-5 on the season, will quickly regroup and head to face cross-town Capital University on Friday before finishing the week with a tri-match at Mount St. Joseph come Saturday.
Heidelberg, winning by final scores of 22-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-23, advances itself to 10-6 on the season and tops the Cards for a second-straight season. The Student Princes won, 3-0, in Westerville last season after Otterbein had emerged with a five-set triumph in 2014.

Otterbein got off to a hot start inside an energetic Seiberling Gymnasium, seizing a 13-9 margin before the hosts countered with a 10-3 run, good enough to put the Cards in a 19-16 disadvantage. Otterbein rallied with three-straight points, two courtesy of sophomore Olivia Harris, to tie the set and ultimately prevail for a 1-0 match lead.

The second set saw early ties at 3, 4, 5 and 7 before Heidelberg found a groove, ultimately opening an 18-12 cushion and holding on to draw the contest even. The Student Princes carried that momentum into a one-sided third game, winning eight of the initial 11 points and never looking back.

The Cards wouldn't go quietly in the fourth, overcoming an early deficit to tie the set at 9, 11 and 14 en route to eventually finding themselves with a four-point lead, at 20-16, following a Heidelberg attack error.

The Student Princes finished strong, however, countering with four-straight points to tie the set at 20 and then finding a way to emerge, 25-23.

Juniors Brett Bey and Marie Thornton blasted 14 and 12 kills, respectively, to lead the Otterbein offense. Bey finished with a solid .370 hitting mark after just four errors on 27 total attempts. Harris and All-OAC junior Morgan Lowenkamp, seeing her first varsity action of the fall after recovering from an illness, both added seven kills of their own.

Setter Andrea Miller posted a double-double with 32 assists and 10 digs, and libero Ashlyn Leon totaled 23 digs on the back line for her third-highest mark of the season.

Heidelberg standout Sarah Parker led all players with a match-high 16 kills over 42 attempts, while teammate Janessa Scott contributed nine. Setter Karlie Diruzza had 33 assists and libero Rachel Raimondo came up with 24 digs.

Otterbein committed 10 service errors in the contest while Heidelberg had just two on its side.