By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Kirtland, Ohio---Carrigan Gray (Liberty-Benton/Findlay, Ohio) produced 22 assists and seven digs to help lead the No. 3 Owens Community College women's volleyball team to a 25-7, 25-12, 25-11 win over Lakeland Community College on the road last night.
With the victory, Owens improves to 12-0 overall and 2-0 in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) play. The team has won all 36 sets it has played, which extends a program record. Lakeland, meanwhile, fell to 3-5 overall and 3-1 in OCCAC play.
Owens will be back in game action next Wednesday when the team hosts Cuyahoga Community College at 6 p.m. The match will be broadcasted on BCSN.
Gray, a sophomore setter, tied her season-high in assists while recording her fourth straight match with at least 20. It was also her seventh match this year with at least that many, and it was the ninth time this season she has led the team in that category.
On top of her passing, Gray had seven digs, which was just two shy of matching her season high. She now has six matches this year with at least seven.
Defensively, Owens was led by Niki Polce (Huron/New Boston, Mich.) and Summer Sweeting (South Central/North Fairfield, Ohio), who each had 11 of the team's 46 digs. For Polce, it was the seventh time she has notched double digit digs this year, and it was a season-high for Sweeting - topping her previous high of six against Kalamazoo Valley on Sept. 1.
While Gray finished third on the team in digs, Brynn DuVall (Bedford/Temperance, Mich.) came in next with five.
Offensively, Erika Angstmann (St. Marys/St. Marys, Ohio) had 10 kills on 13 attacks without any errors. She recorded a career-high .769 hitting percentage (with at least 10 attempts) - topping her previous high of .765 against Sinclair Community College on Sept. 16 of last season.
Angstmann's play helped the team finish with a .475 hitting percentage for the match. Kennedy Ames (Milan Edison/Norwalk, Ohio) finished second on the team with a season-high six kills on zero errors at a .545 clip, while Ally Angstmann (St. Marys/St. Marys, Ohio) and Michaela Eisenhauer (Margaretta/Castalia, Ohio) each had five kills.
As a team, Owens had five aces, led by two from Polce and one apiece from Sweeting, Madison Lammers (New Knoxville/New Knoxville, Ohio) and Cassidy Wlodarz (Cardinal Stritch/Oregon, Ohio). In fact, Lammers added four kills and three digs, while Wlodarz also chipped in three digs.
Eisenhauer had a team-high two block assists. The team recorded eight total as six others had one apiece.
Other contributors last night included: Leah Ballenger (Fremont Ross/Fremont, Ohio), who had one kill and one block assist; Devon Heitkamp (New Bremen/New Bremen, Ohio), who had four kills, one dig and one block assist; Jordan Alt (Ottawa-Glandorf/Ottawa, Ohio), who had three kills and two digs; and Olivia Hermiller (Ottawa-Glandorf/Ottawa, Ohio), who had four kills and one block assist.
NOTES
Owens, who will host Lakeland in a conference rematch on Oct. 11, is now 50-6 all-time against Lakeland dating back to 1994. Head coach Sonny Lewis, who started at Owens in 2001, is now 42-0 against Lakeland and has won 122 of 129 sets. He is 18-0 at home, 20-0 on the road, 4-0 in neutral site matchups and 6-0 in postseason play against Lakeland. In fact, the only five-set match Lewis has coached against Lakeland came on Oct. 19, 2001 on the road.
Last night's win also marked the 597th career victory for Lewis at Owens. He is on pace to win his 600th match at Hocking College on Sept. 16. Overall, Lewis carries a 597-189 record (.760) in his tenure at Owens, including a 180-14 (.928) mark in OCCAC play.
Lewis has now also led the team to 30 straight conference wins, and the victory gave Owens sole possession of first place in the conference as Lakeland was 3-0 entering last night. Everyone else has at least one loss in conference play with Columbus State and Lakeland each tied for second place at 3-1.