Springfield, OH - The Wittenberg women's volleyball team returned to action in front of a rowdy Tiger fanbase at Pam Evans Smith Arena on Wednesday evening. The Tigers defeated the preseason No. 22 Cardinals of Otterbein University 3-1 [25-18, 25-17, 21-25, 25-23]. Sarah Hettich led the Tiger attack with 12 kills on 18 total attacks, posting a .556 hitting percentage. Wittenberg put together a .163 kill marker as a team to open the season, as the two sides were evenly matched with Otterbein posting a .137 average. Ashley Brooks facilitated the Tiger offense recording 22 assists. Mack Ricketts added 12 assists of her own for the Wittenberg offense, including a pair of blocks. 

Game Breakdown

The Tigers came out swinging in the first set, converting on nearly 80 percent of their sideout chances. Wittenberg put down 10 kills on 29 total attacks with five errors in the first set. The Tigers put held the Cardinals to just .047 hitting percentage in the second set of action, while Otterbein committed seven errors on 43 attack attempts. Dakota White helped keep the Tigers alive down the stretch, providing a team-high 19 digs. Tyler Linkhart and Katie Hiestand each provided double-digit digs for the Tigers, as Hiestand tallied 11 and Likhart finished with 10. As the final two sets came down to just a few points, the Tigers made the big plays to take down the Cardinals. 

UP NEXT

The Tigers will make their first road trip of the season on Friday, Sept. 3, traveling to Ohio Northern University, where they will take on Muskingum University on Friday at 7PM. Wittenberg will continue the action on Saturday with matches against host Ohio Northern at 12:30 PM and Mount St. Joseph at 3:30.