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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Some high quality postseason volleyball in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) was on full display Thursday night in the Rike Center, as host Otterbein showed frequent flashes en route to eliminating No. 3 seed Baldwin Wallace from the bracket.

Otterbein, seeded No. 2 in the eight-team event, prevailed by final line scores of 25-19, 25-27, 25-15, 23-25 and now play at Muskingum for all the marbles Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals will be making their second-straight appearance in the OAC Tournament Championship, and third time over the last four years.

The Cards (ranked 14th in the latest AVCA national poll) opened a 10-3 lead in the first set and never trailed, settling into an early lead despite Baldwin Wallace closing to within 16-15 at one point.

Otterbein seemed primed to double up its lead down the stretch of the second frame, holding leads of 23-20 and 24-22 before the pesky Yellow Jackets flew back. BW countered with consecutive kills, ultimately fought off three set points and finished on a 5-1 run to somehow even up the night.

The Cardinals admirably never let their opponent keep that momentum, blitzing the visitors in a third set that began with a sizeable 14-5 Otterbein lead. The gap was soon pushed to 20-10 as the Tan and Cardinal never looked back.

Both sides traded strong exchanges in the fourth, which saw deadlocks at 12, 17, 19, 21, 22 and 23. In the end, Morgan Hartman brought the home crowd to its feet with a kill (24-23) and soon emerged on an attacking error by the Jackets.

Hartman, named OAC Freshman of the Year on Wednesday, showed exactly why she also corralled first-team honors with a final line of 22-5-49 to hit .347 for the match. Fellow first-team standout Carlie Craycraft did what Craycraft does, as the setter dished out 50 dimes while orchestrating an offense that performed at a .367 clip.

Emma Linehan (13-0-20) hit a blistering .650 and went unscathed for the match while newfound honorable mention All-OAC performer Julia Vermilion posted a double-double on the outside. She had 15 digs and 10 kills.

Baldwin Wallace hit .191 for the match as a unit, finishing its solid campaign at 14-6 overall.

CHAMPIONSHIP OUTLOOK:
Otterbein and Muskingum, both nationally-ranked teams, will have a rubber match Saturday at 2 p.m. The two sides split a doubleheader earlier this season in Westerville, with the Cardinals posting a sweep and the Muskies coming back to win the rematch in four sets.

Otterbein and Muskingum will meet for the third-straight postseason. The Cardinals won a 3-0 semifinal last year in New Concord, while the Muskies narrowly escaped a five-set thriller during a 2018 semifinal in Westerville.