By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Wisconsin Dells, Wisc.---The No. 3 Owens Community College women's volleyball team opened the season with a pair of dominating sweeps over No. 7 Kirkwood Community College and No. 11 Des Moines Area Community College in the Battle of the Dells Invitational.
Owens (2-0) will next face North Iowa Area Community College and Kansas City Kansas Community College at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively, tomorrow before heading home.
Match 1 - No. 3 Owens d. No. 7 Kirkwood 25-11, 25-23, 25-21
In today's opening set, Michaela Eisenhauer (Margaretta/Castalia, Ohio) paced Owens with three of her team-high eight kills, while Erika Angstmann (St. Marys Memorial/St. Marys, Ohio) and Cassidy Wlodarz (Cardinal Stritch/Oregon, Ohio) had four and three digs, respectively, in the opening set. In fact, those two had seven of the team's nine digs in the opening frame.
In the second set, Niki Polce (Huron/New Boston, Mich.) had four of her team-high 14 digs, while Madison Lammers (New Knoxville/New Knoxville, Ohio) had three kills in the set to help Owens win a close set and take a two-set advantage.
The final set saw Eisenhauer and Devon Heitkamp (New Bremen/New Bremen, Ohio) each produce three kills, while Polce had nine digs. Summer Sweeting (South Central/North Fairfield, Ohio) chipped in five assists in the set.
Kennedy Ames (Milan Edison/Norwalk, Ohio) had one kill and one assisted block off the bench against Kirkwood.
Overall, Eisenhauer had eight of the team's 31 kills, while Heitkamp chipped in six. Jordan Alt (Ottawa-Glandorf/Ottawa, Ohio) and Olivia Hermiller (Ottawa-Glandorf/Ottawa, Ohio) each added four, and the team hit .247 overall. Heitkamp led the team with four assisted blocks, while Angstmann had three blocks (two assisted). Sweeting (11) and Carrigan Gray (Liberty-Benton/Findlay, Ohio) with 10 led the team in assists. Polce led the way with 14 digs, although Eisenhauer added eight, while Gray and Wlodarz each had five. Angstmann and Sweeting chipped in four apiece.
NOTES: Since Kirkwood upset Owens in the 2015 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Tournament, Owens has won two straight in straight sets over Kirkwood including last year's straight set win on Sept. 24 in the Parkland Invitational.
Match 2 - No. 3 Owens d. No. 11 Des Moines Area 25-13, 25-16, 25-12
In today's second match, Owens produced 40 kills with a .479 hitting percentage - led by nine apiece from Heitkamp and Eisenhauer.
Owens won all three sets in relatively easy fashion. The opening set saw the Express pick up 11 kills at a .400 clip. Ally Angstmann (St. Marys Memorial/St. Marys, Ohio) and Eisenhauer each had three kills, while Sweeting picked up seven of the team's 11 assists in the set. Erika Angstmann had three digs, too.
In the second set, Owens had 13 more kills at a .417 pace, led by Erika Angstmann's four along with two apiece from Lammers, Heitkamp, Eisenhauer and Alt. Sweeting (6) and Gray (5) had 11 assists in the set, while Polce added three digs.
The final set was highlighted by five kills from Heitkamp, while Eisenhauer added four. Alt also contributed three, while the team had 16 total kills in the set with a .593 percentage. Gray led with nine assists, while Lammers and Polce each had three digs.
Brynn DuVall (Bedford/Temperance, Mich.) and Leah Ballenger (Fremont Ross/Fremont, Ohio) each chipped in one kill off the bench against DMACC.
Overall, Heitkamp and Eisenhauer had 18 of the team's 40 kills, while Alt added seven. Erika Angstmann had five, and Ally Angstmann had four. Heitkamp also had two of the team's six assisted blocks, while Polce (7) and Erika Angstmann (3) led in digs. Sweeting (18) and Gray (17) combined for 35 assists.
NOTES
We hope to have video from each match this weekend posted by early next week.
You can follow live updates of each match on our Twitter page (@owensexpress).