By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director

Toledo, OH -- Owens concluded its matches in the annual Owens Invitational with matches against Waubonsee and Hagerstown on Sunday. 

Match #1: Owens - 3 Waubonsee - 1

Owens began their day with a match against the team they were supposed to originally end the day with. Waubonsee and Owens were originally slated to be the last match of the Owens Invitational but due to delays with Hagerstown's first match of the day, the Chiefs and Express decided to play earlier. Owens was challenged right out of the gate on Sunday morning. Waubonsee jumped out to an early lead in the first set. Owens would come back to claim a lead at 20-19, but the Chiefs would close the opening set with six straight points to win 25-20 over Owens. The Express found themselves down a game for just the second time this season. The Express would rally back in the second and take a tightly contested set at 25-21. The third set was a duplicate score, with the Express grinding out another win in set three, winning 25-21. The Chiefs would not go quietly though. Owens would have their first opportunity at match point at 24-21 in the fourth set. Waubonsee would rally back to tie the score at 24-24 after taking a timeout. Kara Evers would deliver a kill to make the score 25-24 Owens, but the Chiefs would strike right back to re-tie the score at 25. Kennedy Ames would use a soft touch over the net on the ensuing serve to give Owens the lead back at 26-25. Waubonsee would use another time out to set up the final play of the match. Owens and the Chiefs would have a long volley before freshman Mornay McBroom would block an attempted kill at the net to give Owens the victory at 27-25. 

Michaela Eisenhauser and Kara Evers led the way with kills in the match. Eisenhauer had 16 kills while Evers would finish with 14. Summer Sweeting was the assist leader once again with 29 during the match, and she lead the team in service aces with two. Kiah Wendel continued her solid play with 24 digs in the match against the Chiefs. Owens moved to 10-1 on the season. 

Match #2: Owens - 3 Hagerstown - 0

In the final match of the entire invitational, Owens matched up against Hagerstown. Much like their matches on Saturday, Owens played immediately after the match against Waubonsee. The Express were a little sluggish to start the first set against the Hawks. They would end up seizing control of the first set though, winning 25-18. The final two sets were dominated by the Express. Owens would win set two by 13 points at 25-12. The final set was another big win by the Express. They would take the third set by a final of 25-11. Ella Delamotte was the leader in kills with seven during the match. Fellow freshman Shyah Wheeler and Kara Evers along with Michaela Eisenhauer all tallied five kills in the match. Summer Sweeting and Kara Schafer each reached double digits in assists with 20 and 17 respectively. Sweeting also had a whopping seven aces via the serve. Kayla Bekier also had six digs to lead the team in the match.

For the weekend, Owens finished undefeated at 7-0. They only had two matches where they lost a game during the three day affair at the SHAC. The team is now 11-1 on the season overall on the young season. Owens will get back to conference play on Wednesday evening when they host Lakeland at the SHAC at 6:00 PM. The Lakers are currently 1-6 overall and 1-2 in the OCCAC. 

Notes: 

- It was a freshman affair in the third set of the match against Hagerstown. The Express elected to have Kennedy Ames, Michaela Eisenhauer, and Summer Sweeting sit the majority of the match's final set.