Box Score
Ohio Northern 3, Ohio Wesleyan 2
Senior outside hitter Paige Hale (McHenry, Ill./West) contributed 4 kills in each set as Ohio Wesleyan won the first 2 sets, but 11th-ranked Ohio Northern rallied for a non-conference win over the Bishops on Wednesday at Branch Rickey Arena.
Ohio Northern won the match by scores of 18-25, 22-25, 25-20, 26-24, 15-10.
The Bishops closed out the first set by scoring the final 6 points, getting a kill and a block from Hale and a kill from sophomore outside hitter Melissa Murray (Chardon/Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) during the final run. Ohio Wesleyan put together another late run in the second set, scoring the final 4 points to erase a 22-21 deficit as freshman middle hitter Ava Kutilek (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) contributed a block and a kill and sophomore outside hitter Kaitlyn Peters (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) added a kill.
In the third set, Ohio Northern took a 20-12 lead on a Kassie Bowmar kill, then held off a rally that saw kills from junior outside hitter Eliza Richardson (Lakewood), Hale, and Murray help the Bishops pull within 23-20 before kills from Taylor Baxter and Melina Woods ended the set and kept the Polar Bears alive. The fourth set saw the visitors take the win when a Bowmar kill broke a 24-24 tie and an apparent kill by freshman middle blocker Claire Solberg (Huron) was overturned, ending the set at 26-24 and sending the match to a fifth set.
Ohio Northern built a 5-0 lead in the final set, with Bowmar and Sydney Eggleston recording kills and Kiki Carle delivering back-to-back aces. The Bishops closed to within 9-6 as Hale came through with a pair of kills and Kutilek and Murray added kills, and consecutive kills from Richardson brought Ohio Wesleyan within 14-10, but the Polar Bears responded with a Bowmar kill to end the match.
Hale led Ohio Wesleyan with 15 kills, while Murray finished with 12. Sophomore setter Abby Thierauf (Cincinnati/Milford) dished out 56 assists. Kutilek had a team-best 4 blocks. Sophomore defensive specialist Neah White (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) recorded 25 digs.
Box Score
