No. 2 Owens Sweeps No. 20 Sinclair, On Verge Of Clinching OCCAC Championship

Niki Polce (left) and Ashley Pleiman (right) helped Owens improve to 31-4 overall tonight. Photos by Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Niki Polce (left) and Ashley Pleiman (right) helped Owens improve to 31-4 overall tonight. Photos by Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information

POST MATCH VIDEO 

Dayton, Ohio---Tyanna Smith (Bowling Green/Bowling Green, Ohio) and Devon Heitkamp (New Bremen/New Bremen, Ohio) combined for 18 kills, while the No. 2 Owens Community College women's volleyball team hit .469 as a team to pick up a 25-12, 26-24, 25-10 win over No. 20 Sinclair Community College on the road tonight.

With the win, Owens improves to 31-4 overall and 11-0 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play, while Sinclair falls to 21-6 overall and 9-2 in OCCAC play. Owens now owns a two game lead in the conference standings with three to play, and they can clinch at least a share of the title tomorrow with a win over Cincinnati State.

Both of Sinclair's losses in conference play are to Owens, which improved its winning streak to seven.

Tonight's Win

Tonight, Smith paced Owens with 10 kills and a .909 hitting percentage, and she added eight blocks. Meanwhile, Heitkamp had eight kills and hit .700 with three blocks.

Owens jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set and never led by fewer than one. Smith produced two kills from the middle during the initial run. Sinclair responded and pulled within 7-6, but Ashley Pleiman's (Fort Loramie/Fort Loramie, Ohio) right side kill gave Owens the first of back-to-back points. 

Moments later, a Sinclair attack went out of bounds as Owens took a 15-9 lead, which forced the first timeout of the set for Sinclair. Owens then scored five of the next seven points with the run being capped by an ace from Erika Angstmann (St. Mary's Memorial/St. Mary's, Ohio) to push the lead to nine.

Following another Sinclair timeout, Owens closed the set with five of the next six points, and Smith finished Sinclair with her fifth kill of the set.

The second set saw each team battle back-and-forth for the first 30 points as the teams were tied seven times. At that point, Sinclair scored four straight points to take a 19-15 lead. Pleiman then started an Owens rally with a left side kill. It was followed by another Angstmann ace and a Smith kill. A Sinclair attack went out of bounds following that as the set was tied for the eighth time.

Both teams then exchanged the next 10 points as the score was knotted at 24. On the next point, Smith swatted another kill down the middle and Sinclair had an attack error on the final point as Owens claimed a two set lead.

Following a sophomore day ceremony for Sinclair, Owens dominated Sinclair in the third set by scoring seven of the first eight points. The run included a kill and an ace from Christine Tylutki (Monroe/Monroe, Mich.) and a right side kill from Heitkamp. Sinclair was able to pull within three at 9-6, but Owens scored the next three points, capped by Pleiman's right side kill.

Sinclair pulled within six a little later, but Owens reeled off eight straight points to take a 22-8 lead. Tylutki and Olivia Hermiller (Ottawa-Glandorf/Ottawa, Ohio) each had two kills during that run. Leah Ballenger (Fremont Ross/Fremont, Ohio) then closed the match with a solo block and a left side kill after Sinclair scored two in a row.

Outside of Smith and Heitkamp, Pleiman added seven kills with a .600 hitting percentage. As a team, Owens had 40 kills with only 10 errors, while hitting .469. Tylutki (19) and Carrigan Gray (Liberty-Benton/Findlay, Ohio) combined for 35 assists, and Angstmann had three of the team's five aces - Tylutki had the other two.

Angstmann led the team with nine digs, while Brooke Gyori (Clay/Oregon, Ohio) had seven and Tylutki had five. As a team, Owens had 18 assisted blocks, led by seven from Smith and four from Pleiman. Ballenger and Smith had the team's lone two solo blocks. 

Next Up

Owens will travel to Cincinnati tomorrow to take on Cincinnati State Technical and Community College at 11 a.m. Following that, the team will also take on Henry Ford College in a non-league matchup at 1 p.m.