By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
POST MATCH VIDEO
Grand Rapids, Mich.---A big three point rally capped another pair of victories for the No. 3 Owens Community College women's volleyball team in the Raider Invitational hosted by Grand Rapids Community College this afternoon.
With the wins, Owens (22-3 overall) has now won six in a row and 18 of its past 19 matches. In fact, outside of a loss to current No. 1 Parkland College, the team has won 44 straight sets. Currently, though, the team has won 18 straight sets.
Next up for Owens is a home tilt against Cuyahoga Community College at 6 p.m. on Wednesday before hitting the road for the Catawba Valley Invitational this coming weekend.
Match 1: Owens d. Kalamazoo Valley 25-12, 25-14, 25-15
Once again, Owens overpowered its opponent en route to its fifth straight win. In the opening set, Kalamazoo Valley hung close and trailed just 10-9. However, Owens closed the set on a 15-3 run in which the only three points Kalamazoo Valley scored were off Owens service errors.
Christine Tylutki (Monroe/Monroe, Mich.) started the run with an ace. Ashley Pleiman (Fort Loramie/Fort Loramie, Ohio) then teamed with Tyanna Smith (Bowling Green/Bowling Green, Ohio) for a block before scoring another point on an overpass kill.
Erika Angstmann (St. Mary's Memorial/St. Mary's, Ohio) then picked up a right side kill before teaming with Tylutki on a block to put Owens up 16-9.
After a bad serve, Tylutki set up Angstmann and Annie Lindeman (Ottoville/Ottoville, Ohio) for back-to-back kills that made it 18-10 and forced a Kalamazoo Valley timeout. Pleiman then picked up three more kills before the set was over, including the set winner on the right side off a Tylutki pass.
On the second point of the second set, Kalamazoo Valley picked up its first kill in 21 points. They followed with another kill to take their only lead of the match, and it lasted just one point as Tylutki followed with a right side kill to tie it up. Angstmann and Smith then teamed up on a block, Tylutki added an ace and Smith smashed home a kill off an overpass to give Owens a 5-2 lead.
A little later, Olivia Hermiller (Ottawa-Glandorf/Ottawa, Ohio) picked up a left side kill, followed by another kill from Devon Heitkamp (New Bremen/New Bremen, Ohio) on a pass from Carrigan Gray (Liberty-Benton/Findlay, Ohio) to push the lead to 11-5.
After a Kalamazoo Valley kill, Owens scored three straight and gradually increased its lead. An Angstmann from Tylutki kill made it 17-10. Smith then had her hand in three straight points with a kill, an ace and an assist to Pleiman for a kill to make it 21-12. The rally continued with a Heitkamp kill that pushed the lead to 10 before Owens eventually won the set by 11.
Owens then controlled the final set from the start. They scored five of the first six points, highlighted by blocks from the Smith-Angstmann and Pleiman-Smith combinations.
Kalamazoo Valley did pull within one on two occasions, but Lindeman's overpass kill made it 9-7 following the second occurrence and Owens followed with three more points in a row. Later, Brooke Gyori (Clay/Oregon, Ohio) picked up a rare back row kill to give Owens a 19-14 lead and start a 7-1 run to end the set. An ace from Niki Polce (Huron/New Boston, Mich.) gave Owens the match winner.
Pleiman finished with a team-high nine kills, followed by seven from Angstmann, six from Lindeman, five from Tylutki and four from Smith. Tylutki (22) led Owens in assists, while Gray added nine. Five players had at least one assist overall. Smith and Tylutki each had a team-high two aces, while Gyori led the way in digs with 10, although Polce added six and Angstmann added five.
At the net, Smith provided one solo and six assisted blocks, while Pleiman had three assisted blocks. As a team, Owens had one solo and 14 assisted blocks.
As a team, Owens hit .534, which represents a season-high, and it was the team's fifth straight match hitting at least .360. They have hit above .400 in nine matches this year.
Individually, Pleiman hit .900 with nine kills and zero errors over 10 attacks. Lindeman came in second at .857, while Angstmann hit .545 and Tylutki hit .500. Smith, who finished fifth at .429, leads the team at .401 this year.
Match 2: No. 3 Owens d. No. 20 Grand Rapids 25-16, 25-13, 25-22
In today's finale, Owens scored the final three points to pick up a tough three set win over No. 20 Grand Rapids on their home court.
With the score tied at 22 apiece in the final set following a pair of kills from Grand Rapids, Owens called a timeout. A long rally ensued on the next point, but Polce saved a Grand Rapids attack with her left hand and it fell on the other side of the net for a crucial point. Then, Pleiman made a rare set for Lindeman, who smashed home a left side kill. Pleiman followed with the match winning point via a kill from the right side.
Early on, Grand Rapids held the lead for 16 points in the first set. They stretched their lead to as many as two on five occasions - the last one coming at 12-10. Following that, a kill from Lindeman and back-to-back kills from Pleiman gave Owens the lead. Smith followed with an ace, and Owens didn't trail again in the set.
Lindeman's fourth kill of the set was followed by Angstmann's fifth kill of the set to give Owens an 18-15 lead. Grand Rapids responded with a point, but Owens then scored the final seven points of the set - capped by a Tylutki-Smith block, a pair of kills from Smith, Angstmann's sixth kill and an ace from Gyori.
Owens then picked up a relatively easy second set win. They led by as many as 15 on two occasions late in the set. Following a kill from Grand Rapids that pulled them within one, Owens reeled off nine straight points, capped by a Pleiman-Smith block, to take a 12-2 lead. From there, Owens stretched the lead. Tylutki's fourth kill of the match gave Owens a 20-7 lead before a Grand Rapids service fault made it 23-8.
The home team rallied to pull within 11, but a bad pass by Grand Rapids ended the set.
The third and final set was back-and-forth, although an ace from Angstmann gave Owens a 15-10 lead. From there, however, Grand Rapids scored four straight points. A Smith-Angstmann block made it 21-18, but Grand Rapids responded and a pair of kills tied it at 22 apiece. That set up the aformentioned theatrics.
Angstmann had a team-high 10 kills while hitting .444. Lindeman added eight at .538, while Smith had seven at a .400 clip. As a team, Owens hit .330 with 41 kills on 91 attempts. Gray (21) and Tylutki (16) had 37 of the team's 40 assists. Gyori, Smith and Gray evenly split the team's six aces, while four players registered double digit digs including Gyori (19), Tylutki (12), Gray (12) and Polce (10). Angstmann added nine. Heitkamp led the team with four assisted blocks, and Smith added three. Pleiman had one solo blocks and two assisted blocks.
NOTES
Gyori now has 14 straight matches with at least 10 digs. She is three digs away from 1,300 in her career...Pleiman is six kills away from 200 this year and two kills away from 250 in her career...Angstmann is five kills away from 200 this year...Gray eclipsed 400 assists this year over the weekend. She now has 435...Polce eclipsed 200 digs on the season this weekend. She has 219 currently...Smith now has 202 career blocks following this weekend. She has at least one block in every match and 15 matches with at least four blocks overall this year...Tylutki now has 253 kills, 1,239 assists, 536 digs, 54 aces and 149 blocks in her well-rounded career...Lindeman has hit at least .500 in four straight and five of the team's past six matches.