PHOTO GALLERY (coming soon)

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – What a night it was for the Otterbein volleyball team back inside the Rike Center, as the Cardinals swept second-place Marietta right out of the gym to defend its Ohio Athletic Conference regular-season title in front of a frenzied crowd.

The Cardinals, running their winning streak to 12 overall, move to a perfect 8-0 in OAC play and are now two matches clear of the field. They secure another top seed in next week's postseason tournament in the process.

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SET 1: The opening frame was ALL Otterbein behind its energetic fans on Couch Night. The Cards opened a 13-5 lead and coasted down the backstretch, also leading 20-8 at one point.

SET 2: Marietta settled in and began going toe-to-toe with the hosts, leading 11-8 until the Cardinals flew back to encounter deadlocks at 11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19. Otterbein eventually found a groove to win five points in a row behind three kills, a service ace and Pioneer miscue.

SET 3: More ties ensued in (what was ultimately) the final set of the night, with knots at 15-16-17-18 entering crunch time. Once again, Otterbein took control after consecutive kills and a timely service ace from libero Amanda Troyer. The Cards still only led 22-20 moments later but a key smack from Kennedy Hoffman and ace by Grace Ganz helped punctuate the night.

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• Otterbein hit .236 as a team while keeping Marietta to just a .133 output on its side, beating Marietta for the 17th time in a row.
   
• Kennedy Hoffman led everyone with 15 kills as the only player to reach double digits, although plenty of Cardinals were involved…
   
• Madison McCoy got off to a hot start and hit 9-1-15 in the middle. Kristen Scherger had eight while Morgan Hartman and Maddie Mergen each added another seven. Hartman (reigning OAC Offensive Player of the Week) also came up with a season-best 17 digs.
   
• Libero Amanda Troyer, OAC Player of the Week defensively, tallied 19 digs and surpassed 1,000 for her evolving career.
   
• Setters Olivia Vitaz (23) and Kailey Mishler (13) joined forces to hand out 36 dimes at the net.
   
• McCoy had five block assists as Otterbein posted a 15-8 edge in total blocking.

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The Cardinals will have 48 hours to regroup before hosting Mount Union in the regular-season finale on Friday night at 7 p.m. It will also be Senior Night for Hartman, McCoy, Mishler and Anna Cecil.