Springfield, Ohio- The fourth-ranked Wittenberg women's volleyball continued their winning ways on Saturday with a pair of 3-1 home wins over top-25 opponents to conclude play at the annual Wittenberg Fall Classic. The Tigers opened the day by taking down No. 14 Thomas More, before closing out the two-day event with another four-set victory over No. 20 Ohio Northern.
Thomas More Match
The Tigers inched out a pair of 26-24 decisions against the Saints in the first two sets, before falling by a 25-14 margin in the third frame. However, Wittenberg stormed back with vengeance in the fourth with a 25-18 victory for the match-clinching point. Five different Wittenberg players logged seven or more kills in the win, led by freshman middle Katie Hiestand with 10 total strikes. Senior outside hitter Taylor Brown was also extremely efficient for the Tigers in the win with eight kills, 16 digs and two block assists. In addition, junior libero Taylor Yontz made it fourt-straight matches with 20-plus digs with 29 against the Saints, while senior setter Karen Wildemann added 34 set assists and eight total digs in the win.
Ohio Northern Match
In the final match of the 2018 Wittenberg Fall Classic, the Tigers again jumped out to a 2-0 lead, and ultimately picked up the four-set win with a dominating 25-13 victory in the fourth set. Junior middle blocker Aubrey Cox once again shined for the squad in the victory, this time registering 14 kills, three service aces and seven total blocks (2 solo, 5 asst.). Senior middle hitter Kennedey Schmidt also had a strong showing against the Polar Bears with nine kills against just two hitting errors in 17 total attempts for a .412 hitting percentage. Defensively, four different Wittenberg players collected 10 or more digs in the win, led by Yontz topping the 30-dig plateau with 33 total digs. Finally, Wildemann re-set her season-high assist number from last night's win over Ithaca as she finished the match against ONU with 45 total helpers.
Thoughts from the Bench:
2018 Fall Classic in the books as @wittenbergvb knocks off 3 Top 25 opponents!
— Wittenberg Athletics (@WittAthletics) September 15, 2018
�� Listen in to what Coach Carus, Aubrey Cox and Taylor Yontz had to say about the weekend #TigerUp pic.twitter.com/CsVJwhIEl4
2018 Wittenberg Fall Classic - All-Tournament Team
Ithaca - Tara Stilwell
Heidelberg - Taylor Arbogast
Thomas More - Jenna Fessler
Mary Washington - Peyton Dunow
Hope - Katie Rietberg
Wittenberg - Taylor Yontz
Ohio Northern - Chelsea Huppert
Up Next
Wittenberg continues non-conference play with a 7:00 p.m. home match against Transylvania on Wednesday (9/18) night, before opening NCAC play over the weekend with a 1:00 p.m. match at Oberlin on Saturday (9/22).