Wirick's 20 Digs Lead Owens Volleyball To Straight Set Win Over Lorain County In Conference Opener

Ciarra Wirick gives max effort attempting to dig a ball in tonight's match against Lorain County. She finished with a team-high 20 digs. Photo by Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Ciarra Wirick gives max effort attempting to dig a ball in tonight's match against Lorain County. She finished with a team-high 20 digs. Photo by Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Game Leaders

Lorain County Community College
K: Kara Szabo - 12
B: 2 Players (#17, #32) - 2
D: Kady Whitsel - 23
SA: N/A
Owens Community College
K: Erika Hartings - 11
B: Macy Reigelsperger - 6
D: Ciarra Wirick - 20
SA: Amara Hemenway - 2

Team Stats

Lorain County Community College
Owens Community College

Hitting %

.075
.174

Blocks

3.0
12.5

Digs

56
56

Aces

0
6
full stats
Posted: Sep 03, 2014

By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Community College women's volleyball team came back from a 24-20 second set deficit en route to sweeping the conference opener from Lorain County Community College in the Student Health and Activities Center (SHAC) tonight.

In the first set, Owens cruised to a 25-15 victory behind five kills from Erika Hartings (Coldwater/Coldwater, Ohio), as well as seven assists from Deanna Smith (Riverview/Riverview, Mich.).

Then, late in the second half, Owens blew a lead and fell behind 24-20. Four straight points by Owens tied the set up before each team took turns scoring points. During that stretch, Lorain County had a couple set points nullified by Owens. Then, with the match tied at 29, Owens took advantage of their first set point and won the set 31-29. 

In that second set, Hartings added five more kills, while Smith added five more assists. Ciarra Wirick (Benjamin Logan/West Liberty, Ohio) added five digs in the set, including a running one-handed dig deep beyond the baseline to save the set.

In the third set, Owens cruised to an easy win despite making four attack errors with just four kills. They had 10 digs in the set, including three each by Wirick and Macy Reigelsperger (Coldwater/Coldwater, Ohio). 

Additionally, Owens combined for 15 assisted blocks over the final two sets.

Overall, Hartings led Owens with 11 kills, while Reigelsperger added nine. In assists, Jessica Cooper (Brandywine/Niles, Mich.) had a team-high 15, while Smith added 14. The team produced six aces as a team, with Amara Hemenway (Bellevue/Bellevue, Ohio) leading the way with two. 

In fact, Hemenway's top spin ace serve ended the second set win for her team.

Wirick led the team with 20 digs, while Reigelsperger added 12 and Aricka LaVoy (Eastwood/Pemberville, Ohio) had eight. Hartings and Ally Mikesell (St. Henry/St. Henry, Ohio) split the team's only two solo blocks, while Reigelsperger (6) and Mikesell (4) led the way in assisted blocks. Hartings and Kayla Siefker (Kalida/Ottawa, Ohio) each added three assisted blocks.

Owens improved to 7-4 overall and 1-0 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play with tonight's win. Looking ahead, they will be in action again Friday in the SHAC at 6 p.m. against Sinclair Community College. Then, on Saturday, Owens will host Edison Community College at 11 a.m. and St. Clair County Community College at 2 p.m. Sinclair and Edison are both OCCAC opponents.