By Chris Schmidbauer, Sports Information Director
Toledo. OH -- After winning the Region XII Champiuonship this past Saturday, the Owens Express Volleyball team is hard at work preparing for this weekend's District A/B Tournament. The Express will hit the road tomorrow morning to Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Owens got to the District Tournament after winning the Region XII title at the SHAC this past weekend. Owens would sweep Schoolcraft in the semifnal match 3-0, before beating the No. 3 ranked Columbus State Cougars in four sets to win the regional championship.
Tyriana Settles would finish the day with 37 total kills in the two matches and 28 total digs for the regional matches. Fellow freshman Semia Neely would finish with 19 total kills in the two matches while also tallying eight blocks at the net. Kayla Bekier and Arielle Snider each attributed 13 kills during regional competition as well.
Rebecca Brown would finish with 89 assists combined between the two matches on the day. She set a career high in the match against Columbus State with 60 total assists. She finished one assist shy of the school record for assists in a match, which was set Mackenzie Lehman during the 1997 season.
Olivia Materni, who didn't play in the first match due to injury, had 16 total digs against the Cougars, while Raelyn Hutchison has 18 total digs for the day, with 13 coming against the Cougars.
Owens is now 36-4 overall on the season, and they finished the week again ranked as the top team in the country in Division III.
The NJCAA Division III Mid Atlantic A/B District tournament is next on the docket, with the Express having two matches on tap for Friday. The first match will take place on Friday afternoon, when Owens will play Patrick Henry. The Patriots are 9-11 overall on the season. Owens will then face Butler County at 7 PM on Friday. The Pioneers are 18-3 on the season. Should Owens advance, they would play in a semifinal at either 9 AM or 11 AM on Saturday with the District Championship game set to be played at 1 PM.