Springfield, OH – The Wittenberg Women's Volleyball 2021 Fall Classic came to a close, as the Tigers took down Heidelberg 3-0 [25-14, 25-18, 25-18] to get the day started. The Tigers closed out the classic with a five-set comeback thriller taking down the Quakers, 3-2 [22-25, 20-25, 25-23, 26-24, 15-10]. Tyler Linkhart put down 33 kills on the afternoon for the Red and White, with 14 coming in the first match against Heidelberg, before continuing the momentum into a whooping 19 against Earlham. Hannah Schartz and Linkhart earned their way onto the All-Classic Team after four matches on the weekend. Schartz posted 19 kills on day one in the Tiger's sweep against Mount St. Joseph and Rose-Hulman, adding 23 to her count on day two the action.

The Breakdown

The Tigers put down 42 kills on 109 swings in the first match of the afternoon for a .275 kill percentage against the Student Princesses. Wittenberg held Heidelberg to under 10 kills in each set of the match, keeping the visitors to hitting less than a .050 as a unit through the match. Katie Hiestand posted nine kills with 11 digs adding two block assists. Sarah Hettich continued to be the key of consistency for the Tigers, putting down seven kills on 13 swings with just two errors, adding two blocks to her credit.

Wittenberg returned to the action with a thrilling five-set match against the Quakers of Earlham College. The Tigers came back from down two sets, holding Earlham to hitting less than .200 in each the third and fourth sets, as the Red and White hung on to take each 25-23 and 26-24. Wittenberg was flawless in the 15-point fifth set, hitting .444 with eight kills on 18 swings, and forcing two Earlham errors on the defensive side. The Tigers were led by Linkhart for a second consecutive match, putting down 19 kills on 52 total attacks with just three errors in five sets. Posting a career-high 17 kills, Schartz recorded a .372 kill marker on 43 swings and just one error. Sarah Hettich and Katie Hiestand each put down double-digit kills for the Tigers. Hiestand finished with 11 and a team-high 26 digs. Hettich posted 12 kills, leading the way in kill percentage at .625. Mack Ricketts accounted for 50 of Wittenberg's 58 assists, helping fuel the Tiger offense.

UP NEXT

Women's volleyball will return to action on Tuesday, September 21, traveling to Transylvania University. First serve against the Pioneers is set for 7:00 PM.