By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
POST MATCH VIDEO
Grand Rapids, Mich.---The No. 3 Owens Community College women's volleyball team imposed its size advantage in a pair of straight set wins over St. Clair County Community College and Waubonsee Community College at the Raider Invitational hosted by Grand Rapids Community College this afternoon.
With the victories, Owens has now won four straight and 16 of its past 17 matches. They are 20-3 overall entering tomorrow's matches against Kalamazoo Valley Community College and No. 20 Grand Rapids.
Match 1: Owens d. St. Clair County 25-12, 25-14, 25-12
Owens got off to slow starts in each of the first two sets, but still picked up three relatively easy set wins to sweep St. Clair County in the opener today.
Annie Lindeman's (Ottoville/Ottoville, Ohio) play highlighted the first set for Owens. The sophomore outside hitter produced five kills, including three straight to break open a 5-5 tie and start a 10-1 run that swung the set in favor of her team.
Ashley Pleiman (Fort Loramie/Fort Loramie, Ohio) picked up one of her two kills in the set to help spur a 4-0 run that gave Owens a 19-8 lead and forced St. Clair County's second timeout of the set. An ace from Niki Polce (Huron/New Boston, Mich.) capped the run, and Devon Heitkamp (New Bremen/New Bremen, Ohio) later smashed home one of her four kills in the set to give Owens a 20-10 lead.
Following Heitkamp's kill, Owens closed the set on a 5-2 run, including the final three points. The last two points came on a rare back row kill from Brooke Gyori (Clay/Oregon, Ohio) and Lindeman's fifth kill.
St. Clair County responded by scoring the first three points of the second set, but Owens answered back with three straight as the teams eventually were tied at 10 apiece.
At that point, Olivia Hermiller (Ottawa-Glandorf/Ottawa, Ohio) picked up a kill from the right side off an assist from Gyori to begin a 15-4 run to close the set.
A few highlights during the run included a block from Heitkamp and Erika Angstmann (St. Mary's Memorial/St. Mary's, Ohio) that made it 15-11; another block from Angstmann and Tyanna Smith (Bowling Green/Bowling Green, Ohio) that made it 18-13, back-to-back kills from Angstmann; a block from Christine Tylutki (Monroe/Monroe, Mich.) and Smith to make it 22-13; and three straight kills to close the set from Tylutki, Angstmann and Smith, respectively.
In the third set, Owens jumped out to a 4-1 lead. St. Clair County rallied and got as close as two twice, with the latest coming at 10-8. From there, Owens scored the next five points and nine of the next 10 points. In fact, at one point, they scored 14 of 16 points before St. Clair County scored two straight late in the set.
Pleiman and Tylutki teamed up for a block to start the 5-0 run. Another ace from Polce made it 18-9. Gyori also had an ace to make it 22-10 before a Smith-Tylutki block made it 23-10. Hermiller capped the set and the match with a kill from the left side off a pass from Carrigan Gray (Liberty-Benton/Findlay, Ohio).
As a team, Owens hit .360 with 33 kills on 75 attempts. Lindeman had a team-high six kills, followed by five apiece from Pleiman and Heitkamp. Angstmann, Hermiller, Smith and Tylutki each chipped in four. Lindeman hit 1.000, while Smith and Heitkamp each hit .444. Hermiller was second with a .571 hitting percentage.
Tylutki led the team with 15 assists, while Gray added nine. Gray, Angstmann and Polce each had two aces, while Gyori (18), Polce (13), Tylutki (9) and Gray (8) led the team in digs.
As a team, Owens had three solo blocks, all from Angstmann, along with 23 assisted blocks. Tylutki and Smith each assisted on six blocks, while Heitkamp assisted on five.
Match 2: Owens d. Waubonsee 25-14, 25-16, 25-20
Smith (.857) and Pleiman (.818) each hit over .800, while Owens hit .435 as a team in today's sweep of Waubonsee Community College.
Through the first two sets, Owens trailed for just one point. They scored four of the first five points in the first set, capped by a block from Smith and Pleiman. Later, up 12-8, Owens scored six straight points, capped by a kill from Smith, a kill from Pleiman and a block from Smith and Pleiman.
Tylutki and Heitkamp had back-to-back kills late in the set as Owens picked up the double digit set win.
Tylutki started the second set off with a right side kill, but Waubonsee scored three straight points after being down two. It was their first and only lead over the first two sets, and Owens responded by scoring six of the next seven points, capped by another Pleiman-Smith block.
Later, a Tylutki kill and ace gave Owens an 18-10 lead. The lead ballooned back to eight two more times before a Polce ace gave Owens a 24-15 lead. Waubonsee stayed in the set with a kill, but Heitkamp answered with a right side smash for a two set lead.
Waubonsee responded by scoring the first three points of the third set, and they led 10 of the first 11 points in the set. Owens, however, three straight and six of the next seven points to take an 11-7 lead. Waubonsee rallied and pulled within one, but Tylutki smashed home a right side kill, followed by an ace from Gyori to give Owens a 15-12 lead.
Moments later, Owens reeled off four straight points, capped by an ace from Angstmann, as they pushed its lead to 20-14. From there, Owens never led by fewer than three before Heitkamp finished off the match with her second straight set winning kill.
Overall, Pleiman had a team-high 10 kills, followed by nine from Tylutki, six from Smith and five apiece from Heitkamp and Lindeman. Tylutki (25) and Gray (15) had 40 of the team's 42 assists, while Gyori and Polce picked up the other two.
Angstmann had a team-high three aces, while Gyori (18) and Polce (8) led the team in digs. As a team, Owens had 20 assisted blocks, led by eight from Smith and six from Pleiman. Angstmann had two solo and three assisted blocks, as well.
NOTES
This weekend's matches are not being streamed live. We will be posting all four matches on our YouTube page ASAP after the conclusion of this weekend's action.