Berry's double-double helps lift No. 8 Volleyball into OAC Tournament Finals with win over Mount Union

Renee Berry

By Steven Wright

| Box Score |

ADA - Junior Renee Berry had a double-double by tying season highs with 11 kills and 15 digs to lead the No. 8 Ohio Northern volleyball team to a 3-1 victory over Mount Union in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Semifinals Friday evening at the ONU Sports Center.

The No. 1-seed Polar Bears are now 29-4 overall, extending their win streak to 22 matches, and will face No. 2-seed Heidelberg in the OAC Tournament Finals.

The victory also secures ONU a spot in the NCAA Tournament by reaching the conference finals after winning the regular season.

The Purple Raiders end their season with a 24-9 record after ONU's 25-16, 19-25, 25-21, 25-15 victory.

Berry hit an impressive .345 for the match while picking up two blocks, an aces and three assists.

Senior Katie Weininger also had a double-double with 51 assists and 12 digs, while Junior Liz Schnelle had 24 kills on a season-high 44 attempts .

Weininger added three kills and two blocks to go along with her double-double, as Schnelle collected six total blocks, five digs and two aces with a .386 hitting percentage.

Senior Samantha Markham also had a fantastic match with 11 kills and a .385 hitting percentage.

Ohio Northern won the first set with relative easy 25-16 by jumping out to leads of 9-5 and 16-7 early on.

Mount Union went on to control the second set, never relinquishing its 9-8 lead it had built.

From the beginning of Set 3 until the middle of Set 4, the two team's battled back and forth never gaining a sizable lead.

After a Roni Schroeder kill in Set 3 to cut the Polar Bear advantage to 22-21, Schnelle recorded two kills and teamed with Weininger on a block to end the set and give Northern a 2-1 advantage.

ONU and MUC basically played side out volleyball up to the point where Mount Union held a 11-10 lead.

At that point, the Polar Bears went on a 15-4 run to finish the match and move on the championshp game.

Freshman Kasey Roeser led thed defense with 22 digs and added two aces.

Mount Union's Julie Radigan and Melissa Mahnke also both recorded double-doubles in the match. Radigan had 43 assists and 17 digs and Mahnke contributed 13 kills and 14 digs.

Ohio Northern has now reached the tournament finals for the 21st time in the 25 years that the OAC has sponsored volleyball. Tonight's match extended Northern's streak of competing in every OAC Tournament Semifinal round.

The Polar Bears will take on Heidelberg tomorrow at 2 pm at the ONU Sports Center.