GAMBIER — The Otterbein volleyball team clinched its 10th win of the season with a 3-1 victory at Kenyon on Thursday night. The Cardinals claimed the match by scores of 25-18, 22-25, 25-17, 25-15.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (10-5 overall), Kenyon (6-11 overall)
• Venue: Lowry Center - Gambier, Ohio

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Three Cardinals finished with double-digit kill totals led by freshman Emerson Baum with 15. Senior Kristen Scherger added 12 to with 11 from freshman Chandler Crowell. Scherger hit .500 in the match, Baum hit .483, and Crowell hit .348.
• Senior Amanda Troyer led the team in digs with 17. Sophomore Makenzie Schellenberger also posted double-digit digs with 10.
• Junior Olivia Vitaz tallied a team-high 30 assists, and freshman Kaitlyn Schram added 15.
• The Cardinals recorded 11 service aces in the match led by three apiece from Troyer, Vitaz and Baum.
• Baum had a team-best four total blocks.

Match Highlights

• Otterbein opened up a 7-3 lead to start the first set, getting two kills and an ace from Baum and one kill each from junior Maddie Mergen, Crowell and Scherger. Kenyon was able to cut the deficit to one at 10-9, but the Cardinals answered with a 9-4 run capped by back-to-back kills from Crowell and Scherger for a 19-13 edge to force a Kenyon timeout. Two consecutive kills from Baum later put Otterbein up 24-17 en route to the 25-18 win.
• The Owls had a strong response to begin the second set, using a 7-0 run to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 10-4 lead. The Cardinals methodically chipped away at that lead and later put together a 4-0 run that included kills from Vitaz and Mergen and an ace from Troyer to tie the score at 14. An ace from Schram put Otterbein up 16-15, but the Owls answered with six straight points for a 21-16 lead. The Cardinals were able to cut the deficit to two at 23-21 and 24-22, but a Kenyon kill capped the set in favor of the Owls.
• Undeterred, the Cardinals scored the first six points of the third set, getting two kills from Crowell and one apiece from Baum and Mergen. Otterbein later stretched the lead to 16-8 on consecutive kills from senior Kennedy Hoffman, Crowell and Baum and was able to maintain a comfortable margin the rest of the way to the 25-17 victory capped by a kill from Mergen.
• Otterbein carried that momentum into the fourth set, scoring the first five points in a stretch that included Mergen and Baum and two aces from Vitaz. That was part of a larger 13-2 run to open the set, allowing the Cardinals to cruise to the 25-15 win to clinch the match.
• Otterbein finished with 57 kills while hitting .259, and Kenyon finished with 30 kills while hitting .107.

Notables

• Otterbein is now 12-1 against Kenyon since 2010 with its only loss in that span coming in September 2016, when the Owls defeated the Cardinals 3-0 in Westerville. The Cardinals have won the last seven meetings, with all but Thursday's having come by 3-0 scores.
• Head coach Monica Wright is in her 18th year at Otterbein and boasts an all-time record of 364-182 at the helm of the Cardinals. 
• Troyer ranks fifth all-time at Otterbein in career service aces (140) and sixth all-time in career digs (1,419).
• Vitaz has 1,302 career assists.
• Hoffman has 855 career kills.