SPRINGFIELD — The Otterbein volleyball team defeated Illinois Wesleyan 3-0 on Saturday to close out its three-match slate in the Wittenberg Fall Classic. The Cardinals earned the sweep with set scores of 25-16, 27-25, 25-21.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (3-0 overall), Illinois Wesleyan (1-1 overall)
• Venue: Pam Evans Smith Arena - Springfield, Ohio

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Senior Kennedy Hoffman led the Cardinals in kills with 14 to go with eight from freshman Emerson Baum and five from senior Kristen Scherger. Baum added a team-best four blocks.
• Senior Amanda Troyer posted team-highs in digs (15) and service aces (3).
• Junior Olivia Vitaz led the team with 18 assists to go with 15 from freshman Kaitlyn Schram.

Match Highlights

• Illinois Wesleyan jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first set, but Otterbein fought back to tie the score at 8-all. The Cardinals closed the set on a 17-8 run for the 25-16 victory capped by an ace from sophomore Makenzie Schellenberger.
• A tightly contested second set featured 17 ties, including at 25-all. The Cardinals showed great poise to score the final two points, capping off the set win with a kill from junior Kayla Lechnir.
• Otterbein carried that momentum into the third set, turning it into an early 5-1 edge. The Titans later pulled within one, 20-19, but a 3-0 scoring run provided the Cardinals the cushion they needed to close out the 25-21 victory capped by a kill from Hoffman to complete the sweep.
• Otterbein tallied 41 kills while hitting .230, and Illinois Wesleyan posted 36 kills while hitting .119.

Notables

• Vitaz and Troyer were named to the Wittenberg Fall Classic All-Tournament Team in leading Otterbein to a 3-0 record in the event.
• Head coach Monica Wright is in her 18th year at Otterbein and boasts an all-time record of 357-177 at the helm of the Cardinals.
• Troyer ranks sixth all-time at Otterbein in career service aces (122) and 10th all-time in career digs (1,215).
• Vitaz has 1,048 career assists.
• Hoffman has 744 career kills.
• Otterbein is now 3-1 all-time against Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans entered the match coming off a 3-0 win over No. 24 Mount St. Joseph on Friday.
• Otterbein is coming off a 2023 season in which it finished 23-9 overall and 9-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, marking its first perfect regular season in school history. The Cardinals have won the OAC Tournament three of the last four years and advanced to their fourth straight NCAA Division III Tournament last season.
• Otterbein received 17 points in the AVCA Preseason Division III Poll.

Quotes

• Senior Amanda Troyer on the team's 3-0 start to the season: "It feels good to see all of our hard work from the preseason paying off, but we have a long way to go."
• Troyer on facing an early season test: "To face a team like Illinois Wesleyan and see what we're capable of gives us something we can build off of as we move forward."
• Head coach Monica Wright on her team's performance: "Illinois Wesleyan has been a great program for the last 10 to 15 years. We watched them yesterday and thought we were going to have some great matchups and that it would be a battle. It was a sweep, but it was a really competitive three sets, and I thought we earned a lot of really tough points, which is what we're going to have to do all year in our tough non-conference schedule and the tough OAC as well. This was a great win for us. Illinois Wesleyan is going to do great things, and hopefully a battle like this will help us somewhere down the road."