By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Community College women's volleyball team pushed its winning streak to 10 with a 25-15, 25-15, 25-18 sweep of Lakeland Community College in the Student Health and Activities Center (SHAC) tonight.
Owens, which has now also won 20 consecutive sets, improves to 14-2 overall and 6-0 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play. They will travel to Illinois this weekend to play in the Parkland Invitational, where they will battle three top 20 teams, including a pair of top five ranked teams.
In tonight's match, Owens never trailed except for two times early in the third set. Early on, Erika Angstmann (St. Mary's Memorial/St. Mary's, Ohio) produced a pair of kills off assists from Carrigan Gray (Liberty-Benton/Findlay, Ohio) and Christine Tylutki (Monroe/Monroe, Mich.) to help the home team score six of the first eight points.
Moments later, Tylutki set up Ashley Pleiman (Fort Loramie/Fort Loramie, Ohio) and Devon Heitkamp (New Bremen/New Bremen, Ohio) for back-to-back kills.
Out of Lakeland's first timeout, Heitkamp and Tylutki teamed up for a block that put Owens up 11-4. The lead jumped back up to seven a little later on another Tylutki to Pleiman kill.
Following a net violation that pulled Lakeland within five, Owens reeled off three straight points on a pair of kills from Heitkamp and a kill from Tylutki off an assist from Brooke Gyori (Clay/Oregon, Ohio).
Owens then clinched the set on Angstmann's fifth kill, this one on an assist from Gray.
In the first set, Owens produced 17 kills on a .375 hitting percentage. Angstmann led in kills, while Heitkamp added four. Tylutki had eight of the team's 15 assists in the set, while six different players had at least one dig, led by three from Gyori.
In the second set, the teams traded the first four points before Owens reeled off five straight points - capped by a Tyanna Smith (Bowling Green/Bowling Green, Ohio) kill.
Following that, Lakeland produced four kills over a five point stretch, although two came on very cheaply hit shots, to pull within two. Owens would lead by four or fewer until Pleiman and Smith teamed up for a block that put Owens up 15-10, which forced a Lakeland timeout.
Out of the timeout, Lakeland picked up a kill off an overpass, but Owens scored nine of the next 11 points - capped by an ace from Gray, to take a 24-13 lead. Brittany O'Hara kept Lakeland alive with an ace and a kill, but Tylutki smashed home set point off an assist from Gray.
Owens didn't hit as well in the second set and finished with a .259 hitting percentage, but got five more kills from Angstmann, along with a pair of kills from Pleiman and Smith. Gray (6) and Tylutki (5) had all 11 of the team's assists, while Gray also added six digs.
A Lakeland kill and a miscommunication from Owens following a pair of great saves from Tylutki and Gyori allowed the visitors to take a pair of leads early in the third set, but Owens controlled things from there.
Annie Lindeman (Ottoville/Ottoville, Ohio), who produced a season-high eight kills in the match, highlighted a 6-0 run that put her team up 6-2. The run was capped by a kill from Gyori, but the rally ended on a service fault. Following that, though, Olivia Hermiller (Ottawa-Glandorf/Ottawa, Ohio), who tied her season-high with four kills, netted back-to-back kills as Owens took an 8-3 lead.
Up four, Owens got three straight kills from three different plays, although all came on assists from Gray. Lindeman started things, followed by Heitkamp and Angstmann, as Owens took a 12-5 lead.
Owens capped a 3-0 run later with another Hermiller kill following a long rally to take an 18-9 lead. Lakeland rallied with four straight points on a pair of aces and a pair of unforced errors, which forced the lone timeout of the match from Owens head coach Sonny Lewis.
Out of the timeout, Lakeland smashed two attacks out of bounds, sandwiched around another kill from Lindeman as Owens seized a 21-14 lead and control of the set for good.
Heitkamp and Lindeman teamed up for a block to push the lead up to eight before Lindeman finished the match with back-to-back kills off assists from Tylutki.
In the final set, Owens hit .281 and was led by Lindeman, who had five kills, along with Hermiller, who had three. Tylutki had 10 assists in the third set, while Gyori chipped in five digs.
Niki Polce (Huron/New Boston, Mich.) had at least two digs in each set, capped by three in the final set.
Overall, Angstmann had a team-high 12 kills on a .526 hitting percentage, while Lindeman came in second at eight while hitting a team-high .600. Heitkamp added seven. Tylutki (23) and Gray (16) combined for 39 of the team's 41 assists. The other two came from Gyori, who led the team with 13 digs. Gray added 11 digs, too. Tylutki and Heitkamp each led the team with four blocks.
Notes
Owens is now 40-0 against Lakeland since 2001, which was the year Sonny Lewis took over as head coach. They have also won 116 of 123 sets during that span, and the team has an 18-0 mark at home.
Owens, which sports a 3-0 record against NJCAA Division II top 20 teams this year, will take on No. 2 Parkland College, No. 4 Kirkwood Community College and No. 20 Des Moines Area Community College, along with Rend Lake College in this weekend's Parkland Invitational. The only two losses for Owens this year have come to NJCAA Division I teams.