No. 6 Volleyball wins fourth straight OAC Tournament Title with 3-2 win over No. 19 Heidelberg

By Steven Wright

| Box Score | Tournament Site |

TIFFIN - The No. 6 Ohio Northern volleyball team won the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Championship for the fourth consecutive year after defeating Heidelberg 3-2 Saturday afternoon at Seiberling Gymnasium.

This is the third consecutive season that the Polar Bears (28-3) have defeated the Student Princes (27-7) in the OAC Tournament final.

The victory is also the 18th OAC Tournament Championship in school history.

The fifth set went back and forth until the teams changed sides, as ONU led 8-7 at the switch.

After the Student Princes tied the set at 8-8, Ohio Northern went on a 5-1 run thanks in large part to three kills and an ace by senior All-American Liz Schnelle.

The Polar Bears finished the match at 15-11 on a kill by senior Renee Berry.

Ohio Northern was excellent in the fifth set in serve receive, siding out on all 11 serves from Heidelberg.

Northern won the match 19-25, 26-24, 25-21, 18-25, 15-11.

Schnelle paced the Ohio Northern offense with a match-high 27 kills, while senior Lindsey Pruneski (14 kill) and junior Abby Schaller (11 kills) also reached double figures.

Schnelle also recorded a double-double with 10 digs.

Junior Kelly Smerekanich did a great job distributing the ball with 60 assists and was big at the net with five total blocks, including three solo blocks.

Ohio Northern had nine total blocks as a team for the match.

The Polar Bear defense was also solid, as four player had more than 10 digs.

Sophomore libero Kasey Roeser led the way with 31 digs, as Berry and sophomore Nicole Howard had 19 and 13, respectively.

Heidelberg still earns the OAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament by virtue of making the conference final after winning the OAC Regular Season Championship.

Ohio Northern should earn an at-large bid into the tournament as the second seeded team in the Great Lakes Region. 

The field will be announced at some point on Sunday and the bracket will be released on Monday.