By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director
Toledo, OH -- After a great finish to the Waubonsee Invitational last weekend, the Owens Volleyball program was back in action in their first OCCAC match of the 2018 season against Lorain County. The Express came out from the opening set and dominated the visiting Commodores, sweeping them in three straight sets.
In the first set, the Express would win 25-13 over the Commodores. Reigning OCCAC Player of the Week, Michaela Eisenhauer, led the way in kills with nine on 14 attempts. That gave her a 42.8% attack percentage. Summer Sweeting was the leader in assists with ten during the first set. Kara Evers and Shyah Wheeler also had three kills apiece during the opening set. Kara Schafer led the Express in digs with three.
The second set was another that was dominated by the Express. Owens won the second set 25-10. The kills more spread out during this set. Wheeler would lead the team with three kills during the middle set, but Eisenhauer, Evers, and Ella Dellamotte each had two kills. Sweeting would lead the team once again in assists with six during the second set and Schafer had two.
Leading by two games, the Commodores stayed with the Express early on, trailing by just three points at 12-9. Owens would close the third on a 13-4 point run to win the set 25-13. Eisenhauer would tie for the team lead in kills with McKinsey Finnen with three a piece. Freshman Carlie Bengela would have two kills in the third set as well. Sweeting would post her second consecutive set with six assists.
For the match, Eisenhauer had 14 total kills for the match with a 57.8 attack percentage. Sweeting finished with 22 assists to lead Owens as well. She also had 91% serve rate as well, which was a team high. Kennedy Ames would lead the team in digs with four.
Owens advanced to 4-1 on the season and 1-0 in OCCAC play. Lorain County fell to 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
The Express will be in action again this weekend for the annual Owens Invitational. The Express will play seven matches in total over the weekend. They will play three matches Friday, two on Saturday, and two Sunday. In total, 25 teams will be on Owens's campus this weekend to compete. The first match will take place on Friday morning at 11:45 AM against Muskegon.
Notes
- With the carryover from last season, the Express Volleyball team has now won 45 conference matches in a row. The streak dates back to the 2015 season when the team went 14-0 during the regular season as did the 2016 team. The 2017 team finished 16-0 in conference play as well. The last time the Express lost an OCCAC match was November 2, 2014 to Columbus State.
- The Express have now won all four of their matches in straight sets. Since their loss in the team's opening match, the Express have won 12 straight sets in a row over the last four matches. They have won each of the 12 sets by an average of 9.4 points.