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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – One of the wildest and most entertaining Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Volleyball matches in recent memory featured a bit of everything Thursday night in the Rike Center, as Otterbein and Muskingum delivered a back-and-forth showdown that provided momentum swings, controversial calls and energetic fan bases on both sides.

In the end, it was the third-seeded Muskies who, by the slimmest of margins, prevailed in a thrilling five-set contest with final scores of 23-25, 25-20, 25-19, 12-25, 16-14. Muskingum advances to Saturday's OAC Tournament Championship match at top-seeded Ohio Northern, who emerged in four sets over Baldwin Wallace.

The Cardinals, sharing the OAC regular-season title with Northern, fall to 21-9 on the year and will now wait to see if they receive an at-large bid to the upcoming NCAA Division III Tournament. The Selection Show is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

"This was a crazy, but fun, match to be part of," said Otterbein 12th-year head coach Monica Wright. "It makes for a memorable environment anytime your players are that focused and invested in every point. You try to make tactical adjustments and motivate your team with each twist and turn. Our hats off to Muskingum for emerging in the end."

Otterbein narrowly took the first set inside an arena that became more raucous with each passing point. The Cards held a variety of four-point leads midway through the opener and eventually settled into a 1-0 match lead after a Muskie attacking error.

Muskingum (25-6) rallied to win the next two sets, leading the entire way in the second and holding off a Cardinal rally down the stretch. Otterbein closed to within 20-19 after trailing by as many as six, but the visitors regrouped to finish on a 5-1 spurt. The Muskies kept the momentum with an early lead in the third and kept the Cards at arm's length throughout.

Otterbein came out incredibly reenergized to begin the fourth, taking an initial 10-5 lead and then ballooning the cushion to 20-10 shortly thereafter. The home crowd remained full of life as the Cards tied the match, with the last-four points all being kills.

Drama intensified in the winner-take-all fifth set, as the Cards held a 7-4 lead and then looked to have tallied another point on a sneaky kill from setter Andrea Miller at the net. Otterbein celebrated as the ball appeared to have deflected off the Muskie block, but it was ruled out of bounds on its own and made the score 7-5.

Ties ensued at 7, 8 and 9 before Muskingum secured another two critical points on kills despite more debate, as one flirted with the far sideline and another on the near side moments later that appeared to have hit the net/pin. The latter ultimately fell to the ground as Otterbein was caught off guard.

Nevertheless, the battle saw deadlocks at 12, 13 and 14 until the Muskies emerged with consecutive points. Brooke Fatheree led her team with a match-high 23 kills on a whopping 87 total attempts. Brynn Guist added 17 while setter Erin Dickson had 53 helpers.

Otterbein hit .236 as a team and had five players with double-digit kills, led by 15 from seniors Hadley Sterett and Alana King-Mendenhall. Sterett hit a season-high 61 times.

Emily Shuk blasted 14 kills, Tate Eppard had 12 and Julia Vermilion tallied 11 around an attack directed by Miller, who posted a match-high 55 assists and a season-best 22 digs. She now has 4,179 assists for her college career, putting her ninth all-time in OAC history.

"I wasn't prepared for senior farewells, but we had a moment in the locker room to thank them for everything and wish them luck," Wright added. "It's a unique circumstance and unfortunate that we do it tonight because we aren't sure if we will play again. You never know how life might go and the same is true with sports. All you can do is cherish each opportunity. It was great to see all five seniors out there on the floor tonight after going through their various challenges in four years."

Five players on each side had double-digit digs, with Otterbein libero Ashlyn Leon registering 20 and senior Kalyn Schroer coming up with a career-high 18. Jordan Youngs had a match-best 31 for Muskingum.

Eppard added a match-high four blocks for the Cardinals. Stay tuned to otterbeincardinals.com and our social-media outlets for updates next week.