WESTERVILLE — The Otterbein volleyball team won a five-set thriller over Ohio Northern in a key Ohio Athletic Conference matchup in front of a raucous crowd in the Rike Center on Wednesday night. The Cardinals won 23-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-16, 15-7.
The Basics
- Records: Otterbein (15-8 overall, 4-2 OAC), Ohio Northern (17-6 overall, 3-3 OAC)
- Venue: Rike Center - Westerville, Ohio
Otterbein Stat Leaders
Match Highlights
- Three straight Otterbein points in the latter stages of the first set put the Cardinals up 19-14, but the Polar Bears responded with a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to 19-18. Trailing 22-20, ONU put together another 4-0 run for a 24-22 edge and went on to take the 25-23 victory.
- The Polar Bears turned that momentum into a 10-3 lead in the early part of the second set, but the Cardinals were able to draw closer with a 4-0 run later on courtesy of two kills from Hoffman, one from Scherger and an ace from Troyer to make the score 13-11. Another 4-0 run, which included a kill from Hoffman and an ace from Schellenberger, put Otterbein up 16-15. A 3-0 that included a pair of kills from Scott gave the Cardinals a 21-17 edge, and they went on to tie the match at a set apiece with the 25-20 win.
- Otterbein scored the first three points of the third set, which was tightly contested much of the way through until ONU put together a 5-0 run for a 22-15 lead. A 3-0 run got the Cardinals within four, 23-19, but the Polar Bears went on to win 25-20.
- Two kills from Hoffman followed by a kill from Baum put Otterbein up 16-10 midway through the fourth set, and the Cardinals maintained control the rest of the way. Four straight points put Otterbein up 24-15 en route to the 25-16 win to force the match into a fifth set.
- A 4-0 run that included a kill from junior Maddie Mergen and a pair of aces from Schellenberger gave Otterbein a 7-2 lead early in the fifth set, and the Cardinals essentially cruised to the victory from there. Leading 11-7, Otterbein scored the final four points for the 15-7 win to clinch the match. That closing stretch included one kill each from Scott, Scherger and Hoffman.
- Otterbein finished with 65 kills while hitting .219, and Ohio Northern finished with 51 kills while hitting .145.
Quotes
- Senior Kennedy Hoffman: "We worked super hard in practice this week to make sure that we are working together as a team and that we're taking matches one set at a time and working through each one point by point. We've really been working on our team culture, and we're trying to play every OAC game like it's our last."
- Senior Amanda Troyer: "The energy in the gym tonight was everything, and we can really build off of that knowing we have a whole student section on our side rooting for us. After the losses on Saturday, we knew we had to come in tonight and play harder than we did then because we knew it wasn't going to be easy because ONU is a good team."
Notables
- Otterbein and Ohio Northern entered Wednesday in a three-way tie with John Carroll for third place in the OAC standings.
- Ohio Northern now holds a 13-12 edge in its series with Otterbein dating back to 2009. The Cardinals defeated the Polar Bears 3-0 in both meetings last season.
- Otterbein is in the "Others receiving votes" section this week's AVCA/TARAFLEX NCAA Division III Poll with 9 points after receiving 2 points in last week's poll.
- Head coach Monica Wright is in her 18th year at Otterbein and boasts an all-time record of 369-185 at the helm of the Cardinals.
- Troyer ranks third all-time at Otterbein in career service aces (162) and fifth all-time in career digs (1,555).
- Vitaz has 1,546 career assists.
- Hoffman has 962 career kills.
