By Andrew Korba
The Ohio Northern volleyball team won three tight sets over Thiel (Pa.) to begin Day 2 of the ONU Invitational Saturday morning at the ONU Sports Center.
Northern won by scores of 25-22, 27-25, 25-23 to up their record on the season to 3-0.
The Tomcats fall to 0-3.
Junior Kristen Davidson led the way for the Polar Bears with 14 kills while senior Ellen Grenert had 13.
Junior Julia Fuerst had 11 kills and a .350 hitting percentage to pace ONU.
Kelly Barzak had 12 kills to lead Thiel.
With the score all knotted at 14-14 in Set 1, Fuerst registered a kill to put Northern in front for good.
Fuerst finished off the first set with a kill to give Northern a 25-22 victory.
Set 2 was tight throughout with neither team having larger than a two point lead.
With the score tied at 25-25, the Polar Bears benefitted from an attack error to give them the lead.
Freshman Kaitlann Hogrefe would then give Set 2 to ONU with a kill.
ONU looked like they would run away with Set 3 by building an early 11-4 lead.
But the Tomcats would use a 6-0 run to cut the Polar Bear lead to 11-10.
Thiel would tie the set at 15-15 on a kill from Molly Gamble.
ONU would push their lead out to 21-18, but Thiel responded with a 3-0 run to tie things at 21-21.
The teams would be tied at 23-23 before a kill by Grenert gave ONU the one point lead.
Grenert would then register another kill to cling the match for the Polar Bears.
ONU had 48 kills and hit .151 for the match while Thiel gad 34 kills and hit .142 for the match.
Ohio Northern will be in action again in a pivotal match at 12:15 pm against Trine (Ind.). Northern and Trine are the only two undefeated teams left in the tournament. A win by the Polar Bears will make them the champions of the ONU Invitational.
