WESTERVILLE — Senior
Kennedy Hoffman surpassed 1,000 career kills as the Otterbein volleyball team closed its regular-season schedule with a 3-1 win over Wittenberg in non-conference play on Wednesday night. The Cardinals won 20-25, 25-12, 25-23, 25-19 for their fifth straight victory.
The Basics
- Records: Otterbein (19-8 overall), Wittenberg (14-9 overall)
- Venue: Rike Center - Westerville, Ohio
- Otterbein enters next week's six-team Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament as the No. 2 seed and has a bye into the semifinals on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. The Cardinals will host the winner of the first-round game between third-seeded Mount Union and sixth-seeded Muskingum.
- OAC Tournament page
Otterbein Stat Leaders
Match Highlights
- Hoffman entered the night with 998 career kills and reached the 1,000 mark on Otterbein's third point of the game. The teams played to a 16-16 tie in the first set before Wittenberg put together a 5-1 run to lead 21-17 en route to the 25-20 victory.
- Undeterred, the Cardinals used a 6-0 run early in the second set to go up 12-3. That spurt was highlighted by three kills from Baum and one from Mergen to go with two aces from Schellenberger. A 4-0 run later in the set that included two kills from Hoffman, one kill from Vitaz and an ace from Troyer put the Cardinals up 20-10. Up 21-12, Otterbein scored the next four points capped by an ace from Schellenberger for the 25-12 victory.
- The third set was much closer, featuring seven tie scores after the Tigers jumped out to a 4-1 lead. The Cardinals responded to take a 22-17 edge, but the Tigers scored the next five points to tie the score. Otterbein answered by scoring the next two points en route to the 25-23 win.
- The Cardinals jumped out to a 16-10 lead in the fourth set before a 5-0 Tiger run got the visitors back within one. The next three points went to Otterbein via a kill from Scherger and back-to-back aces from Troyer to create come separation. Leading 20-18, the Cardinals scored the next three points capped by kills from Baum and sophomore Lexi Scott for a 23-18 edge. The Tigers scored the next point, but the Cardinals closed out the match with back-to-back points capped by a kill from Scott.
- Otterbein finished with 56 kills while hitting .224, and Wittenberg finished with 46 kills while hitting .163.
Quotes
- Senior Kennedy Hoffman on reaching 1,000 career kills: "It feels really good. Over the course of your career, this is the thing that you strive for. I'm so blessed to have such amazing teammates to do it with, and I'm super proud of our effort tonight, and I'm super excited to keep it rolling."
- Head coach Monica Wright: "This was a really great way to end the season. We had a lot of cool things going on tonight. We had more alumni in the gym than we've had in 10 years for any given game, and we got to enjoy some time with them before the game and recognize them at halftime. Kennedy reaching 1,000 kills is a huge deal. It's been a long time coming. It's the end of her senior year, so it's cool to see her get that monkey off her back, and now we can move on and focus on the postseason."
Notables
- Hoffman is the 10th student-athlete in the history of the Otterbein volleyball program to surpass 1,000 career kills and closes the regular season with 1,014 to her credit. Alicia Davis ('04-'07) ranks eighth all-time at Otterbein with 1,017, and Ally Nagle ('11-'13) is ninth all-time with 1,015.
- Otterbein won 3-0 at Wittenberg earlier this season on Aug. 30 and has now won three straight meetings with the Tigers. Wittenberg is 8-4 against Otterbein dating back to 2011.
- Head coach Monica Wright is in her 18th year at Otterbein and boasts an all-time record of 373-185 at the helm of the Cardinals.
- Troyer ranks third all-time at Otterbein in career service aces (169) and fourth all-time in career digs (1,636).
- Vitaz has 1,708 career assists.
