By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
POST MATCH VIDEO
Cincinnati, Ohio---The No. 2 Owens Community College women's volleyball team picked up two more wins today, pushed its winning streak to nine and captured at least a share of the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) championship with straight set wins over Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and Henry Ford College.
The matches were both held at Cincinnati State.
Owens is now 33-4 overall and 12-0 in OCCAC play. The team can clinch the OCCAC championship outright on Wednesday at 6 p.m. against Lorain County Community College on the road. The team then returns home for its regular season finale on Friday at 6 p.m. against Edison before beginning postseason play.
Match 1: Owens d. Cincinnati State 25-6, 25-13, 25-12
In today's first match, Owens clinched at least a share of the conference title behind some great defense as four players had at least 10 digs, led by Brooke Gyori's (Clay/Oregon, Ohio) 17.
In the first set, a pair of Cincinnati State kills pulled the home team within 8-4. However, with Gyori serving, Owens scored the next 13 points and closed the set on a 17-2 run. During that stretch, Tyanna Smith (Bowling Green/Bowling Green, Ohio) had four kills, and Gyori had two aces.
Christine Tylutki (Monroe/Monroe, Mich.) led Owens with six assists in the first set, while Erika Angstmann (St. Mary's Memorial/St. Mary's, Ohio) had five digs.
In the second set, Owens had some fantastic defensive plays. Gyori had 10 digs in the set alone, while Carrigan Gray (Liberty-Benton/Findlay, Ohio) added five. In addition to that, Owens also had a balanced offensive attack as Angstmann, Ashley Pleiman (Fort Loramie/Fort Loramie, Ohio) and Smith each had three kills in the set. Devon Heitkamp (New Bremen/New Bremen, Ohio) and Olivia Hermiller (Ottawa-Glandorft/Ottawa, Ohio) also had two kills apiece.
The set saw Owens score five of the first six points, led by a kill apiece from Smith and Angstmann. The lead stretched to six a little later following a Pleiman-Smith block.
A right side kill from Pleiman pushed the score to 17-10. Moments later, Owens went on a 5-0 run to double up Cincinnati State at 22-11. Angstmann and Pleiman each had one kill during that run.
Down the stretch, Hermiller and Heitkamp each added a kill apiece as Owens closed the set with a 12 point win.
The final set saw Cincinnati State take its first lead of the match on the third point. They also led 4-3 following an ace, but Cincinnati State's out of bounds attack started an 8-0 Owens run that pushed the lead to seven for the visitors. During that stretch, Angstmann had a left side kill and a solo block, and Smith had a pair of kills.
Then, with a six point lead, Owens went on a 7-0 run that was capped by back-to-back kills from Leah Ballenger (Fremont Ross/Fremont, Ohio) and Tylutki to give the visitors a 19-6 lead.
Smith later closed the match with her 13th kill to give Owens a sweep and at least a share of the conference title.
Outside of Gyori's 17 digs, Niki Polce (Huron/New Boston, Mich.) and Tylutki each added 11 digs and Gray had 10. Angstmann also chipped in eight. As a team, Owens produced 68 digs, which was the team's second most in a match this year behind their 79 against Catawba Valley on Oct. 7.
Offensively, Smith's 13 kills and her .750 hitting percentage were a team-high. Angstmann added seven kills. Tylutki (20) and Gray (12) led the team in assists, and Gyori had a team-high two aces. At the net, Smith and Angstmann had a team-high three blocks apiece.
Match 2: Owens d. Henry Ford 25-14, 25-8, 25-16
In today's second match, which was of the non-conference variety, Angstmann produced a team-high 10 kills while Owens hit .377 as a team in a 50 minute win.
Henry Ford scored the match's first two points, but Owens answered with three straight and never trailed again. The lead jumped to 11-5 following back-to-back kills from Pleiman and an overpass kill from Tylutki. A kill from the middle by Smith then made it 19-13 and kickstarted a 6-1 run to end the set.
In the second set, Owens dominated from the start. They scored the first eight points of the set and led 16-1 at one point. Polce started the set on serve and led the initial 8-0 rally that featured seven kills - three from Heitkamp, two from Tylutki and two from Angstmann.
Henry Ford scored its first point of the set on an Owens net violation. Following that, Owens scored eight more points in a row. The run was capped by three straight kills from Smith, along with a Smith-Heitkamp block, that made it 16-1.
An ace from Ballenger made it 20-3. Henry Ford scored four of the next five points, but it was too little, too late as Tylutki hammered home an overpass kill and Polce closed the set with back-to-back aces.
The third set saw the two teams exchange the first four points, which forced a pair of ties, but Owens cruised from there. Four straight points, highlighted by another kill from Smith, gave Owens a 6-2 lead. A left side kill from Angstmann made it 12-6. Yet another kill from Smith then put Owens up 15-8.
Later in the set, Annie Lindeman's (Ottoville/Ottoville, Ohio) right side kill started a 7-1 run to end the match. Following her kill, Polce had another ace and Tylutki followed with a right side kill. The Heitkamp-Tylutki connection then produced back-to-back blocks before Heitkamp's kill down the middle set up a Smith-Heitkamp block to end it.
Outside of Angstmann, who had 10 kills and hit .571, Smith added nine at a .462 clip. Heitkamp was third on the team with six kills, and Owens had 37 as a team.
Tylutki (20) and Gray (14) had 34 of the team's 36 assists while Gyori had the other two. Polce led the team with three aces and eight digs, while Gyori added six digs and Gray had five.
Tylutki had a team-high five blocks, while Heitkamp had four and the combination of Smith and Lindeman had three apiece.