SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Ohio Wesleyan University volleyball team (12-8, 4-1 NCAC) hit the road to face off with fellow NCAC-unbeaten Wittenberg (9-10, 5-0) on Saturday afternoon. After putting up five close sets, the Bishops unfortunately fell short 3-2 and suffered their first conference loss.
Wittenberg took a six-point advantage in set one at 12-6 and soon increased it to 17-8 thanks to a 5-2 run. A 6-1 run for the Battling Bishops closed the gap to two at 22-20. Unfortunately, the Tigers took three of the last four points to finish the first set 25-21.
The second set was close early on, but soon turned into a five-point lead for Wittenberg at 19-14. The Bishops then put together a 10-2 run to strom back and steal the lead 24-21. It took three points, but
Taylor Tompkins finally ended the set at 25-23 with a kill.
Wittenberg put together runs of five and four en route to a 23-18 lead in set three before the Red and Black came back with seven straight points to claim it 25-23.
Jordanne Shannon nabbed two kills and a block to help close it out.
The Battling Bishops were behind for the majority of the fourth set before a four-point run to tie it up at 16-16, eventually taking a 19-18 lead. The two sides then traded 4-0 runs to bring the score to 23-22. Wittenberg would take four of the last five points to secure the set 26-24.
Ohio Wesleyan found themselves facing a 7-3 deficit early on in the decisive fifth set. Despite strong offensive efforts by the Bishops, consisting of back-to-back-to-back kills by Dieball and
Megan Lantis, Wittenberg managed to maintain the lead to a 15-11 win.
THE NUMBERS
The Tigers took the advantage 65-56 in kills, 53-44 in assists, and 69-55 in digs. The Bishops led 13-9 in service aces and 6-4 in blocks.
Jordanne Shannon and
Megan Lantis led the offense each with 14 kills, followed by
Natalie Dieball with 13.
Dieball tallied the most service aces with four.
Jenna Ashbrook and
Maggi Wall each had three.
Anna Kenealy recorded four blocks.
Jaelyn Taylor,
Abby Nulph, and Shannon each had one.
Ashbrook was the leading setter for the Red and Black with 22 assists. Taylor tallied 17.
Avery Krause collected 21 digs, followed by Wall with nine and Dieball with six.
UP NEXT
Ohio Wesleyan hosts DePauw on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
