By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
POST MATCH VIDEO
Toledo, Ohio---The Owens Community College women's volleyball team produced nine service aces in the first set en route to a season-high 16 overall in a 25-9, 25-14, 25-15 win over Cuyahoga Community College in the Student Health and Activities Center (SHAC) tonight.
Tyanna Smith (Bowling Green/Bowling Green, Ohio) and Erika Angstmann (St. Mary's Memorial/St. Mary's, Ohio) had four aces apiece, while Owens hit .778 as a team in the first set and .375 as a team overall.
Cuyahoga scored three of the first four points of the match before Owens closed the first set on a 24-6 run. Down two early, Owens reeled off eight straight points, highlighted by three consecutive aces from Christine Tylutki (Monroe/Monroe, Mich.). That rally ended with a Cuyahoga kill, but Owens got a left side kill from Ashley Pleiman (Fort Loramie/Fort Loramie, Ohio) to begin a 6-0 run.
After a bad serve, Owens scored the next seven points, highlighted by three aces from Smith. Later, Tylutki slammed home a kill off a pass from Carrigan Gray (Liberty-Benton/Findlay, Ohio) and Cuyahoga hit an attack out of bounds to end the set.
Next, Cuyahoga started strong for the second straight set with three consecutive points, and they led 6-5. Owens scored the next four points, but an attack error trimmed the lead back down to just two. Cuyahoga then served one into the net, which started a 7-0 run by Owens that was capped with an overpass kill from Smith. The lead was stretched to as many as 12 following that before Tylutki finished the set with a left side kill off a pass from Gray.
In the third set, Owens struggled to find distance from Cuyahoga, but controlled the set. They led by four a few times until a 4-0 run put them up 18-10. From there, they pushed the lead back up to eight on three occasions. Following the third time, back-to-back attack errors from Cuyahoga then ended the match.
Six players recorded at least four kills for Owens, led by six apiece from Pleiman and Smith, who hit .556 and .455, respectively. Devon Heitkamp (New Bremen/New Bremen, Ohio), who started the match with a power kill off the block, finished with five and a .667 percentage. Annie Lindeman (Ottoville/Ottoville, Ohio) also hit .600 with four kills.
Brooke Gyori (Clay/Oregon, Ohio), who recorded a team-high nine digs, eclipsed 1,300 for her career with tonight's effort. She now has 1,306. Niki Polce (Huron/New Boston, Mich.) and Angstmann each chipped in seven digs.
Gray (16) and Tylutki (11) led the team in assists, while six different players recorded at least one ace. Lindeman had a pair of solo blocks for Owens, while Smith picked up one solo and one assisted block.
With the win, Owens is now 23-3 overall and 8-0 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play. They will take a seven match winning streak - all in straight sets - into this weekend's Catawba Valley Invitational in Hickory, N.C. While there, Owens will take on No. 4 Catawba Valley and No. 11 Pasco-Hernando, along with Wallace State - Hanceville, a 24-1 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I team, Cape Fear and Northern Virginia. It will be the first-ever matchup between Owens and Northern Virginia. Furthermore, Owens will enter the invitational as winners of 19 of its past 20 matches.