No. 4 Volleyball knocks off No. 9 Wittenberg in 5-set thriller

Alex Christian

By Tim Glon

| Box Score |

ADA -- Alex Christian tied a career-high 13 kills to lead the No. 4-ranked Ohio Northern volleyball team to a thrilling, 5-set victory over No. 9 Wittenberg Thursday night at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears improve to 14-1, while the Tigers fall to 5-3.

Liz Schnelle also had 13 kills and Renee Berry added 10 kills for ONU. Kelsie Zumbebrger dished out 42 assists and Kasey Roeser had 32 digs for the Polar Bears.

Wittenberg was led by Catherine Farny and Hannah Riley, who had 14 and 11 kills, respectively.

Wittenberg controlled the match early on, winning the first set 25-20 and leading 17-7 in the second set before the Polar Bears began to turn the tide.

Northern rallied with an 8-2 run to pull within 19-15 and a 5-1 run evened the match at 23-23.

Trailing 26-25, Northern got a kill by Berry to tie the set and an ace by Christian to cap a 3-0 run and even the match at one set apeice.

ONU controlled set three and posted a 25-21 win.

Wittenberg then won a thriller in set four 25-23 to set up the exticing fifth set finish.

With the score tied at 8-8, Northern ripped off seven of the match's final eight points, led by three kills by Abby Schaller, to close out the victory.

Northernhad a season-high 93 digs in the defensive battle.

The Polar Bears will return to action Saturday and Sunday at the Mount Saint Joseph Invitational.