By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Grand Rapids, Mich.---The No. 3 Owens Community College women's volleyball team will open the Raider Invitational against St. Clair County Community College and Waubonsee Community College this afternoon.
Owens, which enters the inviational at 18-3 overall, has won two straight and 14 of its past 15 matches. Their past 10 wins have come in straight sets. Offensively, Owens has five players with at least 130 kills, led by freshman Erika Angstmann (St. Mary's Memorial/St. Mary's, Ohio) at 171. She is followed by a pair of sophomores, Ashley Pleiman (Fort Loramie/Fort Loramie, Ohio) and Christine Tylutki (Monroe/Monroe, Mich.) at 166 and 146, respectively. Freshman Devon Heitkamp (New Bremen/New Bremen, Ohio) has 141 and sophomore Tyanna Smith (Bowling Green/Bowling Green, Ohio) has 134.
Among those five players, four are hitting at least .317, led by Smith at .387 and Tylutki at .362. As a team, Owens is hitting .301, which is fifth best in the nation.
Freshman Carrigan Gray (Liberty-Benton/Findlay, Ohio) and Tylutki are leading the team in assists with 380 and 347, respectively. Sophomore Brooke Gyori (Clay/Oregon, Ohio), who is the reigning conference player of the week, leads the team in aces (34) and digs (290), while four others also have at least 120 digs including freshman Niki Polce (Huron/New Boston, Mich.) at 182. Tylutki (147), Angstmann (140) and Gray (120) are the other three.
Smith leads Owens in blocks at 85, while Heitkamp (57) and Tylutki (53) check in just behind her.
Scouting St. Clair County
Owens will open up at 1 p.m. against St. Clair County, which enters at 6-6 overall. The Skippers of Port Huron, Mich. are led offensively by freshman middle hitter Erica Labaere, who has 112 kills and hits at a .301 clip. Sophomore Miranda Shafer (163) and freshman Larissa Crook (103) led the team in assists, while freshman Jodi Kilpela has a team-high 112 digs. Labaere leads the team with 36 total blocks, as well.
Against ranked teams, the Skippers are 0-3. They lost in three sets to No. 4 Kirkwood Community College and No. 15 Schoolcraft College, and they lost in four sets to No. 12 Sauk Valley Community College. Meanwhile, Owens is 3-0 against those three teams.
Scouting Waubonsee
Following the match against St. Clair County, Owens will take on Waubonsee, which enters today at 14-6 overall. The team received votes in the latest National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II poll and have won three straight matches coming into this weekend.
Offensively, the Chiefs of Aurora, Ill., are led by four players with at least 100 kills. Three of those four, Haley Koziol (175), Mallory Jones (143) and Alexandra Cox (137) are sophomores, while freshman Chelsey Ellen checks in at 135. Another sophomore, Payton Orzech, has 92.
Sophomore Rachael Lape (309) and freshman Hollie Fedderly (263) lead the team in assists, while five players have at least 130 digs, led by freshman Brittany Grider at 198 and Jones at 197. Cox has a team-high 54 blocks, while Koziol has a team-high 41 aces.
In terms of common opponents with Owens, Waubonsee has lost to Monroe College (3-0), Parkland (3-0), McHenry County (3-0) and Sauk Valley (3-0), while they have defeated Sinclair (3-1) and Cuyahoga (3-0). Owens has defeated all of those opponents except Parkland, the No. 1 team in the nation.
Notes
Today is the first of two days of action in the Raider Invitational for Owens. Tomorrow, the team battles No. 20 Grand Rapids Community College, who is hosting the invitational, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College.
Owens went 4-0 in last year's Raider Invitational and picked up wins over McHenry County, Oakland, St. Clair County and Kellogg.
For live stream links, visit our website at OwensExpress.com and visit the volleyball schedule/results page.