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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – It was a tough result in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play for the No. 17-ranked Otterbein volleyball team inside the Rike Center, as visiting Ohio Northern prevailed from a tight first set to go on and secure a 3-1 victory Wednesday night.

The contest, a rematch of last year's OAC Tournament Championship, was the first setback in conference play for the Cardinals who now stand at 14-5 overall and 2-1 against the league.

Ohio Northern improves to 12-5 this season (2-0 within the OAC) after emerging by complete scores of 26-24, 25-22, 16-25, 25-22. It marks the fourth-straight win for the Polar Bears in this series despite almost all matchups being very competitive.

HOW IT PLAYED OUT:

Both sides exchanged leads and saw multiple deadlocks in the first set before ONU extended a 24-21 advantage. Not going anywhere just yet, the Cards flew back with three-consecutive points to knot the frame. However, responded with a pair of timely kills to snag the opener.

That momentum stayed on the visiting side to begin the second frame, where the Polar Bears opened a 17-12 cushion and once again held off a charging Otterbein squad in crunch time. The Cardinals rallied to within 21-19 and 22-20 but ran out of steam late.

A down, but not out, Cardinal group kept things very much alive with a dominant third set. The home crowd came to life watching leads grow to 13-8 and 17-12, forcing ONU into a pair of timeouts along the way. Northern trailed just 18-15 moment later before a blitzing 7-1 run culminated the set for Otterbein.

The fourth set was extremely narrow throughout in seeing ties at 14, 15, 16, 17, 20 and 21 entering the latter portion. Unfortunately, a service error by the Cardinals allowed ONU to vault back ahead for good as the Polar Bears used the free point to their advantage…

Otterbein was only down 23-22 after a kill from Morgan Hartman two points later, until a kill by ONU and attack error for the Cards ended the night.

LOOKING AT NUMBERS:

Amber Greeley (16-3-25) and Aubrey Geis (12-2-23) both hit above .425 for the night to lead Otterbein, while Carlie Craycraft posted 46 assists. Reigning OAC Defensive Player of the Week Bridget Oder turned in 25 digs.

The Cards actually out-hit Ohio Northern with a slim margin, registering a .180 percentage compared to .170 on the visitor side. However, 13 service errors by Otterbein and a 16-9 blocking advantage for Northern helped turn the tables.

NEXT WEEK:

Otterbein will have a full week off to regroup before traveling to Wilmington next Wednesday at 7 p.m.