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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – It was a tough night (to say the least) in a Top-20 showdown for the Otterbein Volleyball team, which came up on the low end of a sweep to visiting and No. 16-ranked Wittenberg inside a well-attended Rike Center.

The Cardinals, moving up to No. 11 in the latest AVCA national poll unveiled Tuesday afternoon, suffer their first loss of the season and now stand 9-1 overall.

The Tiger, finding a groove last week to beat a pair of Top-10 powerhouses in Calvin and Hope, stayed red hot to win by convincing scores of 25-17, 25-18, 25-15.

Otterbein came out in a 6-2 lineup, bringing Carlie Craycraft and Amber Greeley off the bench, and fell behind 8-1 after the Tigers immediately got them out of system in the serve-receive game. Wittenberg hung onto the early momentum and build a 16-6 lead, never looking back to settle into an early lead.

The middle frame was the most contested as both sides jockeyed for the lead in a set that found ties at 14-14 and 15-15. Wittenberg opened a 19-16 lead, Otterbein clawed back to 19-18, and a service error for the Cards out of a timeout gave the ball back to their opponent. The Tigers used that serve to win five points in a row.

The Cardinals only trailed 10-9 in the third before Wittenberg took control once again, this time using an 8-1 run to create separation and take any life out of the home crowd.

Wittenberg hit a blistering .438 offensively compared to a .183 percentage on the home side. Tiger veteran Katie Hiestand was clean at 13-0-21 (.619) while Tyler Linkhart (11-1-19) also sparked the effort. Junior setter Mack Ricketts averaged almost 12 assists per set running the show.

Sophomore Kennedy Hoffman was a bright spot for the Cardinals, staying aggressive throughout and finishing with 10 kills (and just two errors) on 19 total attempts for a sharp .429 percentage.
Wittenberg (6-2 overall) tallied eight aces and ripped multiple other serves off the line that kept Otterbein off balance.

Otterbein will need to regroup quickly with a big weekend looming up north where the team will face Calvin, Elmhurt and Hope at DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland, Mich.