The Otterbein women’s volleyball team downed the Marietta College Pioneers in three straight sets, 25-18, 25-15 and 25-13 Tuesday night.
The Cardinals improve to 24-6 overall and 6-2 in the OAC. The Pioneers fall to 12-16 overall and to 2-6 in the OAC.
In the first set, Otterbein jumped out early, taking the first three points of the set. But that wouldn’t last long, as Marietta would take eight of the next 10 points, taking an 8-5 lead before Monica McDonald, Otterbein’s head coach, called a timeout.
“Honestly, I told them that if you’re not excited about this match then I’ll find someone who is,” McDonald said she told the team during the timeout.
Much to McDonald’s liking, the team did pick up the energy, as they took the next seven points after the timeout. Otterbein didn’t look back after taking the lead, and won the first set, 25-18.
The second set started out much stronger. After losing the first point of the match, Otterbein took eight out of the next nine points. Although Marietta won points sparingly, Otterbein didn’t give them any breathing room, and eventually took the set, 25-15.
The third set went back and forth at first, making the score 3-3 early. But Otterbein would go on a 7-2 run and blow the set open. This would lead to a 25-13 victory, and a 3-0 sweep of the match.
Senior Annie Juenger led Otterbein with 17 kills, junior Tabatha Piper led with 36 assists and senior Emily Caldwell led with 10 digs.
With this win, McDonald said she was pleased to gain another OAC victory.
“We’ve gone into some matches that we felt like we should’ve won and came out on the losing end,” McDonald said. “Every time we play an OAC match and come out on top, especially with a 3-0 win, is extremely positive.”
Otterbein hosts Capital this Saturday, Nov. 2 at 11 a.m. for their senior day.
