By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Kirtland, Ohio---Devon Heitkamp (New Bremen/New Bremen, Ohio) tied a season-high with 13 kills to lead the No. 2 Owens Community College women's volleyball team to a 25-17, 25-14, 25-11 win over Lakeland Community College on the road tonight.
With the win, Owens improved its winning streak to six, while upping its record to 30-4 overall and 10-0 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play. The team will be back in action on Friday against No. 20 Sinclair Community College on the road at 6 p.m. The matchup will pit the top two teams in the conference against each other, and should Owens win, they would move two games up in first place with three to play.
In tonight's match, Owens fell behind to begin each set, but shook it off each time. In the first set, the Lakers scored the match's first two points, but Owens responded with five straight points on kills from three different players.
Moments later, Erika Angstmann's (St. Mary's Memorial/St. Mary's, Ohio) second kill of the set put Owens up 8-3, which forced Lakeland's first timeout of the set. The Lakers responded by scoring the next five points out of the timeout, although Owens responded with four of the next five points. The run included a pair of kills from Annie Lindeman (Ottoville/Ottoville, Ohio), along with a block from Lindeman and Christine Tylutki (Monroe/Monroe, Mich.).
A little later, a Lakeland left side attack landed for a kill to pull the home team within two, but Heitkamp responded with her second kill of the set to spur a 6-0 run that was capped by a big overpass kill from Heitkamp. During the run, Heitkamp also added a solo block, and Angstmann produced her third kill of the set.
Up 21-13, Owens then scored three of the next four points, highlighted by two more right side kills from Heitkamp and a kill from the middle by Tyanna Smith (Bowling Green/Bowling Green, Ohio). Angstmann then finished the set with her fourth kill of the set.
Lakeland then scored the first three points of the second set before Tylutki smashed home a kill to get Owens on the board. Lakeland remained ahead, though, until Heitkamp produced back-to-back kills to give Owens a 9-8 lead. Those two points actually kickstarted a 4-0 run that was also capped by Heitkamp teaming with Tylutki for a block.
Moments later, a pair of kills from Angstmann put Owens up 15-10. Following an overpass kill from Lindeman that put Owens up 18-12, Lakeland called a timeout. Owens, however, scored seven of the set's final nine points. The run included Heitkamp's ninth kill, along with Lindeman's fourth kill.
Owens put away Lakeland early in the third set by scoring eight of the first nine points. Heitkamp and Angstmann each produced two kills early in the run, and Heitkamp's 12th kill put Owens up 8-1.
Later, Brooke Gyori's (Clay/Oregon, Ohio) career-high third kill from the back row put Owens up 16-3. Three points later, following back-to-back aces from Angstmann, Owens led 19-3. Lakeland then made a mini-run and pulled within 13, but Owens scored the match's final three points - capped by a block from Smith and Leah Ballenger (Fremont Ross/Fremont, Ohio).
Aside from Heitkamp's 13 kills and her .409 hitting percentage, Angstmann finished second on the team with nine kills, while hitting .500. Smith chipped in seven and Lindeman had five. As a team, Owens had 42 kills and hit .256.
Tylutki had 25 of the team's 37 assists, while Carrigan Gray (Liberty-Benton/Findlay, Ohio) had seven. Gyori chipped in three, as well. Angstmann had a team-high three aces. Gyori (23) and Tylutki (10) led the team in digs, while Niki Polce (Huron/New Boston, Mich.) had eight and Gray had six. At the net, Heitkamp had two of the team's four solo blocks, while also adding two assisted blocks. Smith and Tylutki each had a team-high three assisted blocks.
Lakeland falls to 8-13 overall and 1-10 in OCCAC play with the loss. Owens completed a season sweep of them tonight.