Springfield, OH – The Wittenberg women's volleyball team welcomed the return of their annual Fall Classic. The Tigers hosted Mount St. Joseph University for their first of two matches on day, getting revenge on the Lions by way of 3-0 [25-17, 25-21, 25-18] win. Wittenberg completed the opening day sweep with an exciting 3-0 [30-28, 25-12, 25-11] win over the Fightin' Engineers of Rose-Hulman. Senior Katie Hiestand led the Tiger attack with with 18 kills through the two matches on the evening, adding 25 digs and two blocks to her count on through two matches on the evening.

The Breakdown

Wittenberg took the early advantage over MSJ through the early going to start the day, putting down 14 kills on 37 attack attempts with just three errors for a .297 kill percentage. Tyler Linkhart tallied 10 kills against the Lions for a team-high .588 kill marker without a single error. Mack Ricketts accounted for 21 of the 37 assists in the first match, including a sneaky dump kill the Lions defense was not expecting.

The Tigers returned to the court for a primetime showdown against Rose-Hulman, going to battle in the first set with Wittenberg coming out on top, 30-28. Each team hit .245 in the first set, the Tigers smashed 20 kills on 53 swings with seven errors. A trio of Tigers closed out the match with double-digit kills, including Hiestand with 11. Hannah Schartz, also tallied 11 kills on 26 swings against the Fightin' Engineers with just two errors, getting up on two block assists. Linkhart tacked on 10 kills coming on 25 attacks. Ricketts continued to facilitate the Tiger offense with 29 assists in the second match of the evening, adding a whopping nine service-aces. Ricketts moves into a tie for three-set service aces with Tiger legend and All-American Kara Seidenstricker, which Seidenstricker set her service ace record against Rose-Hulman.

UP NEXT

Wittenberg will return to action for day two of the Fall Classic, taking on Heidelberg in a high-noon showdown from Pam Evans Smith Arena. The Tigers will wrap-up the event taking on the Quakers from Earlham College at 4PM.