No. 5 Volleyball rallies for 4-set win at area-rival Bluffton

Abby Schaller

By Tim Glon

| Box Score |

BLUFFTON -- No. 5-ranked Ohio Northern battled back from a one set deficit to defeat area-rival Bluffton 24-26, 25-16, 25-23, 25-17 Wednesday night at Founders Hall.

The Polar Bears improve to 9-1, while the Beavers improve to fall to 7-3.

Abby Schaller had a season-high 12 kills and Liz Schnelle was one away from tying a season high with 20 kills to lead the ONU offense.

Kelsie Zumberger had 44 assists and Kasey Roeser had 18 digs for Ohio Northern.

Roeser also tied a career high with four aces, while senior Lindsey Pruneski set had a career-best five total blocks against Bluffton.

Ohio Northern was very affective from the service box with 14 aces on the night, the most since the Polar Bears had nine at home against Defiance on Sept. 8.

The Beavers were led by Nicole Wood and Jenna Eshleman with 17 and 16 kills, respectively.

In the first set, the Beavers took advantage of a loud home crowd to race to a 15-10 advantage. The lead was 20-15 when ONU went on a 7-1 run to go up 22-21. 

But back-to-back serving errors by the Polar Bears swung the momentum to the hosts and Bluffton would score the set's final three points to win the opener 26-24. 

In Set 2, Northern used a 7-1 run to turn a 10-6 lead into a commanding 17-7 lead. Northern would score four of the set's final five points to even the match at 1-1.

In Set 3, Northern raced out to a 6-1 advantage, but BU rallied with a 4-0 run to pull within 8-6.

Bluffton used another 4-0 run to tie the set at 16-16.

Trailing 18-17, the Polar Bears used a 4-0 run of their own to go back on top 21-18.

The Beavers tied the match at 22-22, but a kill by Schaller and an ace by Renee Berry put ONU up 24-22.

Another Schaller kill gave Northern a 25-23 win in Set 3 and a two sets to one advantage in the match.

Kills by Schnelle, Zumberger and Schaller sparked a 4-0 run for ONU to open Set 4. That lead would expand to 8-2, 10-3 and 14-6 as Northern took control of the match.

The lead grew to as large as 21-12 before Northern posted a 25-17 win.

Northern hit .263 for the match with 52 kills while the Beavers hit .258 with 62 kills.

Ohio Northern will return to action this weekend at the Wittenberg Border Battle on Friday and Saturday.