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CHICAGO, Ill. – The Otterbein volleyball squad showed up in full force to launch the 2019 NCAA Division III Tournament Friday evening in the windy city, taking control early and working past Wisconsin-Whitewater at the Ratner Athletics Center.

The Cardinals, improving to 26-6 on the season, emerged over the Warhawks by final scores of 25-19, 25-15, 24-26 and 25-21. As a result, Otterbein flies into the Round of 32 on Saturday evening to square up with host and No. 2-ranked Chicago. First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m.

Wisconsin-Whitewater, playing in the "Big Dance" for a 14th time in the last 15 years, ends its season at 22-10 overall.

Each team needed to shake out the nerves early, as both sides committed a few service errors in the early going before ties at 11-11 and 16-16. The Cardinals went on a 4-0 run following that deadlock, forcing two Whitewater timeouts, and then also capped the frame with another 4-0 rally.

The Warkhawks led 9-7 early in the second frame, but a quick 5-0 run put the Cardinals back on top the remainder of the way. Both sides traded points to find a 15-13 score, but Otterbein took complete control from there with a 10-1 spurt to punctuate the set.

Good swings and nice digs were traded to begin a very competitive third set, which saw ties at 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18 until the Cards found themselves up 20-18 after strong rips from Emily Shuk and Anna Donner.

Otterbein held a 22-19 edge after a perfectly-placed kill from Donner up the sideline, but the Warhawks countered right back with three-straight points of their own. The set was then deadlocked at 23 and 24, with UWW claiming a key ace on a long serve at 23-23, before Whitewater ultimately extended the match on a 26-24 count.

Otterbein admirably regrouped in the fourth despite Whitewater stealing some key momentum. The set would see locks at 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 until the Cards seized three-point leads of 19-16, 20-17 and 23-20. Tate Eppard smoked an absolute rocket of a kill to make it 24-21 moments later, and then a Whitewater attack sailed long on the next play.

Eppard, recently named Ohio Athletic Conference Player of the Year, led the way with match-highs of 14 kills and six blocks while compiling a solid .394 hitting mark. A very balanced lineup followed suit as four other Cardinals contributed at least eight kills. Freshman Amber Greeley went 8-3-15 (.333) and joined the defensive effort at the net with five blocks of her own.

Freshman setter Carlie Craycraft had a double-double of 42 assists and 12 digs in running the show, while senior libero Ashlyn Leon tied for a match-best 17 digs in the back. Bridget Oder added 15 as the Cards limited Whitewater to a .135 percentage.

Otterbein had 18 blocks as a team, matching its second-best output of the season, and advances to the Round of 32 Saturday evening for just the third time in program history. The two sides will be meeting for a second time this season after Chicago prevailed 25-12, 25-17, 25-21 earlier this season at a neutral-site event.