TIFFIN, Ohio – The No. 17-ranked Otterbein volleyball squad continued racking up W's on the volleyball court Friday night in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) action, taking a pair of four-set showdowns from host Heidelberg inside Seiberling Gymnasium.
The Cardinals, jumping to 11-1 on the season, take over first place atop the OAC standings (winning percentage) after Muskingum split with Baldwin Wallace. The Muskies now stand 9-1 and will visit Otterbein in exactly one week.
Heidelberg, always a tough opponent and especially on its home floor, falls to an even 5-5 this spring with the defeats.
MATCH 1 (W 27-25, 25-13, 23-25, 25-13):
Otterbein, trailing 25-24 in the opening set after leading the entire way, rallied to win three-straight points and emerge with an early lead. The Cards used that momentum to deliver a lopsided victory in the next set, using a 10-2 run in the middle portion to break away…
Heidelberg kept things alive with a narrow third-set triumph, opening a lopsided 10-1 lead before holding off a charging Otterbein squad down the stretch. The Cards soared back to take leads of 18-16 and 19-17, but the hosts didn't waver. Ties at 23 and 25 preceded the hosts winning two point in a row.
The fourth set was all Otterbein, using a 6-0 run to later create a 19-5 cushion and never look back.
Emma Linehan,
Amber Greeley and
Morgan Hartman all made it to double-digit kills, led by Linehan's solid line of 12-2-18 in the middle.
Setter
Carlie Craycraft finished with 45 assists and 17 digs while libero
Hillary Sterett notched a career-high 21 digs in the back. Four other Cards guided a balanced defense with eight-plus digs, including 11 from
Bridget Oder.
Anayma Tuex had a match-best 13 kills for Heidelberg, which committed 12 service errors in the contest.
MATCH 2 (W 25-19, 22-25, 26-24, 25-16):
The initial set encountered ties at 15, 16 and 18 before the Cardinals pulled away, benefiting from a few Heidelberg miscues surrounding two kills from Hartman and another from Greeley. The Student Princes then drew even by leading wire-to-wire in the second frame.
A critical third set featured momentum swings on both sides, with Otterbein up 17-14 until a mini run thrusted the 'Berg ahead 20-19. Deadlocks at 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 ensued before the Cardinals manufactured two points, coming via kills from Linehan and Greeley.
Otterbein caught fire to finish the job, taking leads of 10-5 and 20-10 in a relatively comfortable fourth set. The Cardinals hit .336 as a team throughout, headlined by a monster 20-1-42 performance off the right arm of Hartman.
Greeley (16-3-31) and Linehan (11-3-18) added impressive lines while
Anna Donner posted another 10 kills. That was all scattered around 56 assists from Craycraft, marking the fifth outing off 55 or more in her young career. She erupted for 60 in four sets last year against Heidelberg.
Craycraft and Sterett combined for 31 digs in the defensive column, as the Student Princes hit .269 collectively to challenge Otterbein over various stretches. Maddie Szawranskyj had 14 kills for the home team.
MOVING FORWARD:
Otterbein is scheduled to be back in action Wednesday evening at Wilmington, a match that has been slightly postponed from Tuesday's original date.
