Box Score
Ohio Wesleyan 3, Wittenberg 2

Freshman outside hitter Natalie Dieball (Cincinnati/Lakota East) and senior outside hitter Kaitlyn Peters (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) had 12 kills apiece to lead the Ohio Wesleyan offense as the Bishops opened their North Coast Athletic Conference schedule with a win over Wittenberg on Saturday at Branch Rickey Arena.

The Bishops defeated the Tigers by scores of 25-17, 25-16, 20-25, 16-25, 15-9.  The win was Ohio Wesleyan's first over Wittenberg in a North Coast Athletic Conference regular-season match since Oct. 27, 1993, breaking a 34-match streak.

Ohio Wesleyan went on a 6-0 run to break an 11-11 tie in the first set, getting 2 kills from Dieball and additional kills by senior right-side hitter Melissa Murray (Chardon/Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) and senior middle blocker Claire Solberg (Huron), and the Bishops closed out the set with a 6-1 stretch that included a block and a kill by Murray.  The second set saw the Bishops assemble a 9-0 run that turned a 5-4 deficit into a 13-5 lead, with Peters contibuting 2 kills and a block and Dieball adding 2 kills and an ace.  Ohio Wesleyan finished the set in similar fashion, this time with a 7-1 burst that included 3 blocks and 2 kills by Solberg, including the set-ending kill that gave the Bishops a 2-0 lead in the match.

After a Peters kill brought the Bishops within 9-8 in the third set, the Tigers went on a 7-1 charge, with Alana Bartulovic contributing 2 kills and a block.  Ohio Wesleyan rallied to within 23-20, but Bartulovic answered with back-to-back kilils to keep the visitors alive.  In the fourth set, Wittenberg broke a 7-7 tie with an 8-0 run that saw Tyler Linkhart and Kendall Black each record 3 blocks as the Tigers sent the match to a fifth set.

Wittenberg had closed to within 10-8 in the fifth set on a kill by Linkhart, but Ohio Wesleyan scored the next 3 points, including a Dieball kill, to extend the lead to 13-8.  After a Bartulovic kill, the Bishops got a match-ending block by Solberg and Dieball.

Dieball and Peters shared the Bishop lead with 12 kills apiece.  Junior setter Olivia Osuna (Orlando, Fla./Phillips) finished with 18 assists and sophomore setter Lily Bechina (Chicago, Ill./Jones College Prep) added 17. 

Solberg notched 10 block assists, breaking the school record of 9 block assists in a 5-set match set by Gretchen Lenk against Case Reserve on Oct. 19, 1991, and tied by Jen Kraly against Wittenberg on Oct. 27, 1993.

Senior defensive specialist Neah White (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) collected 25 digs, raising her career total to 1024 and making her the 13th Ohio Wesleyan player to surpass the 1000-dig mark since the advent of the libero position in 2004.

Box Score