April 2021

Ohio Northern junior and Ada High School volleyball standout Melina Woods was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division III Woman Player of the Week for the week of April 1-7.

Woods hit .441 with 56 kills and only five errors as the Polar Bears went 3-1 last week with a sweep of Capital and a split at then-No. 12 Otterbein.

Woods is the 12th Ohio Northern player to be named the Sports Imports/AVCA Player of the Week and the first since Liz Schnelle, who was a five-time Sports Imports/AVCA Player of the Week honoree.

The Polar Bears finished their season with a 13-3 record under first-year head coach Katie Kuhn.

After a nationwide search, the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) has named Sarah Otey as its next conference commissioner. She will start her new post in June.

Otey, who currently serves as a director of academic and membership affairs at the NCAA,  replaces Tim Gleason, who is retiring after 30 years leading the OAC at the end of June. She is only the second fulltime commissioner in the history of the conference and the first woman to hold the post.

 Senior Jordan Dodson (Worthington) won 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 at No. 6 singles to break a 4-4 tie and lift the Ohio Northern women's tennis team to a 5-4 victory at Otterbein on Wednesday afternoon at the Otterbein Tennis Courts.

The Polar Bears remain undefeated at 4-0 overall and ar 3-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Cardinals fall to 1-1, 1-1.

ONU overcame deficits of 3-1 and 4-3 to earn the victory and stay on top of the OAC regular season standings.

Senior Katie Curry (Oxford/Talawanda) posted a pair of victories, winning 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5 singles and 8-5 with sophomore sophomore Regan Landis (Elkhart, Ind./Concord) and No. 3 doubles.

By Cort Reynolds
ADA - The homestanding Ada baseball team lost 11-3 to Columbus Grove Wednesday evening in the Northwest Conference lidlifter.

Ada dropped to 1-4 and 0-1 in the NWC with the defeat, while Grove improved to 2-3 and 1-0 with the victory. 

The purple and gold led 1-0 after the first inning, but Grove took the lead with a four-run third frame. CG smacked two triples and a double to spearhead the rally.

Ada cut the deficit to 4-2 with a run in the home third. But Grove scored seven more runs over the final four innings, including four in the seventh, to pull away and win.