Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
SAINT MARY'S PHOTO GALLERY

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein volleyball team kicked off its season with a pair of victories Friday evening inside the Rike Center, topping Saint Mary's College and Capital University as part of its annual Fall Classic.

Otterbein (2-0) will return to the court Saturday for another pair of outings against North Park University and Washington and Jefferson College. Match times are scheduled for 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.

The Cardinals flew out of the gate against Saint Mary's, winning 25-16 in both the first and second sets to assume a comfortable advantage. Otterbein went with a bit of a different rotation in the third frame, where the Belles were able to grab a 14-7 advantage midway through.

Otterbein chipped away and eventually clawed back behind the right arm of junior outside hitter Hadley Sterett, who entered as a sub and had four quick kills as part of a run to tie the set, 22-22. The exchange then saw ties at 23 and 24 before Saint Mary's won two-straight points.

The Belles carried that momentum into the fourth set, opening an initial 7-2 lead and ultimately winning the frame, 25-20, to force a winner-take-all showdown.

Otterbein finally kicked back into gear, finding some breathing room at 7-3 and going on to escape with a 15-11 triumph. Senior middle Morgan Lowenkamp blasted a new career-high of 22 kills and hit .368 while Sterett, a Wright State transfer, was solid in her Cardinal debut with 18 kills.

Junior setter Andrea Miller posted a career-high 58 assists to tie the most by an Otterbein player since 2008, when the NCAA switched to rally scoring and changed the number of points needed to win a set from 30 to 25. She also had a  team-best 16 digs to notch the double-double effort.

The Cardinals then wasted no time downing cross-town Capital in the nightcap, emerging in 59 minutes by line scores of 25-10, 25-19, 25-15.

Otterbein led 11-7 in the first set before stringing together a nice 9-1 run, opening a double-digit lead and settling into the early advantage. The second frame saw a handful of early ties until the Cards slowly inched away, and Otterbein then began the third on a 10-0 run to never look back.

Sterett was impressive yet again, hitting .440 in the match by compiling 14 kills (and just three errors) on 25 attempts. She also had eight digs and four service aces.

Lowenkamp contributed eight kills, three other players had five each and Miller dished out another 32 assists for a Cardinal offense that hit .321 from start to finish.

Libero Ashlyn Leon paced a strong defensive effort with 10 digs and senior Marie Thornton had six block assists. Capital hit -.091 for the match.