Box Score
Wittenberg 3, Ohio Wesleyan 1

Freshman outside hitter Natalie Dieball (Cincinnati/Lakota East) led the Ohio Wesleyan offense, but third-seeded Wittenberg won the third and fourth sets to defeat the second-seeded Bishops in a semifinal match of the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament, hosted by DePauw University on Friday in Greencastle, Ind.

The Tigers defeated the Bishops by scores of 25-12, 29-31, 25-23, 25-22.

Senior outside hitter Kaitlyn Peters (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) delivered a kill to tie the first set at 3, but Wittenberg took the lead with an 8-1 run that included 2 kills by Alana Bartulovic and an ace from Piper Ricketts, then extended the margin to 20-8 with a 6-2 run that included 2 kills each by Tyler Linkhart and Kaili Worcester.  The Tigers finished off the set with 4 straight points, including a pair of Piper Ricketts aces.

Ohio Wesleyan raced to a 6-0 lead in the second set, getting a kill and a block from junior right-side hitter Grace Cummings (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne), and still led, 17-12, after a Dieball kill.  Kills by Dieball and Murray helped the Bishops to a 22-19 lead, but a 5-1 Wittenberg run that featured consecutive kills from Bartulovic gave the Tigers a 24-23 lead.  With the score tied at 29, a Wittenberg service error followed by an attack error gave the set to Ohio Wesleyan.

In the third set, the Bishops built an early 7-3 lead with the help of back-to-back aces from junior setter Olivia Osuna (Orlando, Fla./Phillips) only to see the Tigers come back to even the set at 10 on a Kendall Black kill.  The score was tied at 23 when Bartulovic recorded a kill and an ace to close out the set and give Wittenberg a 2-1 lead in the match.

Wittenberg moved out to a 5-0 lead in the fourth set as Mack Ricketts had a pair of aces, but Ohio Wesleyan came pulled even at 15.  Dieball came through with a kill to tie things at 19, and another Dieball kill brought the Bishops within 21-20, but the Tigers got a kill from Linkhart and a block by Kait Colahan and Worcester, then kills from Colahan and Linkhart down the stretch to win the set and the match.

Dieball led the Bishops with 16 kills, Cummings finished with 11, and Peters added 10 kills and a team-high 27 digs.  Sophomore setter Lily Bechina (Chicago, Ill./Jones College Prep) had 22 assists and Osuna added 21.  Junior middle blocker Ava Kutilek (Wilmette, Ill/New Trier) had a team-high 4 blocks.

Peters represented the Bishops on the all-tournament team.

Box Score