No. 8 Volleyball ties school record with 24th straight win, defeats Westminster in 1st round of NCAA Tournament

Katie Weininger

By Steven Wright

| Box Score |

SPRINGFIELD - The No. 8-ranked Ohio Northern volleyball tied a school record with its 24 consecutive victory, as the Polar Bears defeated Westminster (Pa.) 25-21, 25-21, 17-25, 25-14 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday evening at the HPER Center on the campus of Wittenberg.

ONU improves to 31-4 on the year while the Titans finish their season with a 24-11 record.

Senior All-American setter Katie Weininger led ONU with a double-double, dishing out 45 assists and recording a season-high 17 digs.

Leading the Polar Bear offense was junior All-American Liz Schnelle who surpassed the 20-kill plateau for the third consecutive match with 22. Schnelle also eclipsed the 500-kill mark for the season with 504 kills.

Junior Renee Berry also contributed nicely with 11 kills and eight digs.

Four Northern players reached double-digit digs led by freshman Kasey Roeser with 23.

Weininger's 17 digs were second on the team, while junior Liz Decima and freshman Nicole Howard had 12 and 11, respectively.

Ohio Northern jumped out to a large lead early in Set 1 at 10-2, but Westminster went on a 14-6 run to gain momentum and tie the match at 16-16.

The Polar Bears never led by more than three points the rest of the set, taking Set 1 25-23.

After the score was 5-5 in Set 2, the Titans went on a 5-1 run and did not trail until Northern took a 20-19 advantage late in the set.

Westminster tied the score 20-20 on the next serve before Northern went on a 5-1 run to end the set 25-21 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Titans continued to pressure the Polar Bears, taking an 8-3 lead in the third set.

Northern was able to chip away at the lead and cut it to two at 12-10 after a kill by sophomore Alex Christian, but Westminster scored six of the next eight to push the lead back to 18-12.

An Ohio Northern time out did little to stop the Titan attack, as Westminster closed out Set 3 25-17.

Westminster had 12 kills and no hitting errors en route to its Set 3 victory.

The Polar Bears got off to a better start in Set 4, building a 12-6 lead after a kill by sophomore Abby Schaller.

The Titans got within four points at 12-8 before Northern went on a 13-6 run to end the match and take the four-set victory.

Ohio Northern will advance to the next round to play at 7 pm on Friday against Wittenberg, who defeated Muskingum 3-0.