ATLANTA, Ga. – The Otterbein University volleyball team sits 4-4 on the season after playing in the highly-competitive Emory College Classic over the weekend, hosted Friday and Saturday down south.
 
Day 1: (vs. Tufts and Emory)

The Cardinals dropped a five-set heartbreaker against Tufts College to begin day one, taking a 2-1 match lead but ultimately falling by scores of 20-25, 25-20, 28-26, 22-25, 13-15.

Otterbein rallied from a late hole to steal the third set, getting consecutive kills from sophomore Emily Shuk to tie the frame, 24-24, before a pair of kills from All-American Hadley Sterett culminated the stretch. The fourth set was then tied at 21-21 before the Jumbos finished on a 4-1 spurt, and the fifth set saw a deadlock at 5-5 until Tufts pulled away once more to hold on.

Sterett finished with a whopping 31 kills, the second-most in Otterbein history and most by a Cardinal since the NCAA changed the number of points needed to win a set (from 30 to 25) prior to the 2008 season. She hit .303 for the contest, attempting 66 times and also recording 12 digs around the rotation.

Alana King-Mendenhall added nine kills for a Cardinal offense that hit .227 as a unit, while Tate Eppard and Emily Shuk. Setter Andrea Miller dished out 54 assists in directing traffic.

The Cards were forced to quickly regroup and take on the host Eagles, currently ranked No. 8 in the national poll, but eventually dropped a three-set showdown by scores of 25-20, 25-16, 25-22. Sterett had 16 kills, Miller handed out 31 assists but Otterbein managed to hit just .089 collectively.

 
Day 2: (vs. Whitworth and Transylvania)

Otterbein woke up and rebounded nicely on day two, beginning with a 26-24, 25-22, 20-25, 27-25 triumph against Whitworth. Shuk had a critical kill to put the team up 25-24 in the opener and the Cards finished the job one point later.

The second set was tight the entire way, seeing ties at 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 before Otterbein strung together three-straight points. Whitworth stayed alive temporarily until the Cards regrouped in the fourth, overcoming multiple ties down the stretch and getting two services aces from senior Kalyn Schroer as an exclamation point.

Miller tallied 42 assists up front, 16 of those going to Sterett and then 12 going to Shuk, who finished with a new career-high in kills. Libero Ashlyn Leon registered 16 digs while Sterett had 11 for her fifth double-double of the season.

Otterbein suffered a three-set defeat to Transylvania in Saturday's finale, losing by close scores of 23-25, 22-25 and 19-25. Sterett, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, had 14 kills and Eppard, who hit a solid .333, contributed nine in a match that saw 20 combined service errors from the two sides.

Otterbein will return home for an exhibition match against nearby Columbus State Community College next week before getting back on the road, venturing to the Ohio Wesleyan 'Bishop Invitational' for a quartet of matches.