By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Grand Rapids, Mich.---Erika Hartings (Coldwater/Coldwater, Ohio) and Christine Tylutki (Monroe/Monroe, Mich.) keyed a win over No. 14 St. Clair County Community College, followed by a straight set win over Kellogg Community College, as the No. 8 Owens Community College women's volleyball team closed out play in the Grand Rapids Community College Invitational today.
With the win, Owens has now won six straight and will take a 20-5 record into Wednesday's home conference match against Sinclair Community College at 6 p.m. Additionally, the team closed its 10 match road trip with an 8-2 record, including wins over the No. 10, No. 11 and No. 14 teams. Their only two losses during the stretch were to No. 3 Johnson County and No. 7 Des Moines Area.
Match 1: No. 8 Owens d. No. 14 St. Clair County 25-17, 20-25, 25-10, 25-14
Owens has battled injuries to key players throughout the season, and today's very first set saw Deanna Smith (Riverview/Riverview, Mich.) go down with an injury. She didn't return, but Tylutki made sure to do her best in the absence of her sophomore counterpart.
Furthermore, five players recorded new season-highs across four statistical categories.
Tylutki finished with a season-high 30 assists, while adding two kills, eight digs and four blocks in the win, while Hartings recorded a new season-high kill total with 17, while hitting .378.
Outside of Tylutki producing 30 of the team's 35 assists and Hartings recording 17 of the team's 45 kills, Macy Reigelsperger (Coldwater/Coldwater, Ohio) added six kills. Abby Hesselschwardt (Otsego/Grand Rapids, Ohio) and Samantha Reer (St. Paul/Norwalk, Ohio) each chipped in five kills.
Reer's kill total is a new season-high after coming into the match with two all season.
Brooke Gyori (Clay/Oregon, Ohio) led the team with 23 digs. Miranda Johnson (Whiteford/Ottawa Lake, Mich.) also recorded a new season-high with nine digs, which also matched the mark of Ally Mikesell (St. Henry/St. Henry, Ohio) in the match. After those three, Tylutki, Reigelsperger and Hesselschwardt had eight, seven and six digs, respectively.
Gyori and Johnson each had a team-high three aces. Johnson's total was a season-high.
Reigelsperger recorded a season-high nine blocks (three solo) with Tylutki, Mikesell (two solo) and Hartings each adding four.
St. Clair County, which fell to 22-3 overall with the loss, will get its rematch Oct. 24 at Owens.
Match 2: No. 8 Owens d. Kellogg 25-16, 25-12, 25-7
Owens cruised to a sweep over Kellogg to close its play in the GRCC Invite.
Hartings, once again, led the team in kills with nine, while Mikesell and Reigelsperger each had six. Taylor Purcell (Bedford/Temperance, Mich.) contributed five, as well.
One match after setting a new season-high with 30 assists, Tylutki set the bar even higher with 32. In fact, she had all of the team's assists.
Offensively, Owens finished with 12 service aces, which marked the seventh time this year the team has reached double figures in that category. It was the first time they did so since Sept. 5, however. Tylutki and Hartings each led the team with three, while Johnson and Gyori each had two.
Gyori (20) and Mikesell (10) led the team in digs.
Hartings had a team-high five blocks (two solo), while Purcell and Tyanna Smith each added three (one solo).