No. 11 Tigers Take Down Marietta In Five Sets

Marietta, OH – The No. 11 Wittenberg Tiger women's volleyball team captured a non-conference road win, 3-2 (25-16, 12-25, 23-25, 25-15, 21-19), over the Pioneers of Marietta College. Wittenberg logged 58 kills on 161 total attacks, recording a .205 hitting-percentage on the night.

Katie Hiestand led the Tiger attack with a team-high 20 kills for a team-leading .400 hitting-percentage. Tyler Linkhart and Kendall Robertson added 11 kills apiece for the Tiger offense. Robertson logged an efficient .333 hitting percentage, with just four errors on 21 swings. Mack Ricketts tallied 41 of Wittenberg's 53 assists on the afternoon. Ricketts added two aces with 15 digs to her tally. Ava Hampton tallied a team-high 19 digs. Ally White added 13 digs and two service aces, mixing into the Tiger rotation.

The two sides battled back and forth, as the scoreboard saw two lead changes and three ties in the first set alone. Wittenberg tallied a .297 hitting-percentage in the first set, putting down 14 kills with just three errors. The Tigers forced five Marietta errors to open the match. Marietta went on to take the second and third sets. Wittenberg regained their footing in the third set, going toe-to-toe with the Pioneers, matching the home side with 14 kills each. The third set went back-and-forth with three lead changes and three ties. Wittenberg carried the momentum into the fourth set, rolling to a 25-15 win. The intensity picked up in the fifth and final set. In the 15-point, win by two final set, neither side wanted to budge. Both sides put down double-digit kills, Wittenberg tallying 13 and Marietta with 10. The two sides exchanged leads six times with 12 ties throughout the final set. Wittenberg capitalized on the bad set by Marietta, before Robertson put down the final kill.

With this win, Wittenberg improves to 15-3 on the season and 3-0 in NCAC play. Wittenberg will return to action on Saturday, October 15, traveling to Kenyon College for a 4:30 pm NCAC showdown with the Owls.

NCAA LEADERS

• Ricketts remains at No. 3 in DIII for assists/set with 10.72. She is No. 23 for total assists with 568.
• Sticking inside the top 20, Linkhart comes in at No. 15 in DIII hitting-percentage, hitting .389, has 228 kills on 476 swings. Robertson comes in at No. 18, hitting .386, with 138 kills on 272 total attacks.
• Linkhart cracks the top 10 in kills/set, averaging 4.38 to come in at No. 9 in DIII.
• As a team, Wittenberg posts a .274 hitting-percentage to rank No. 3 in DIII behind Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Northwestern-St. Paul.

NCAC LEADERS

• Wittenberg continues to lead the conference in hitting-percentage, kills and assists.
• Robertson and Linkhart hold the top two spots for hitting-percentage in the NCAC. Hiestand has made her way into the top 10,.
• Linkhart (1^st – 4.45 k/s), Hiestand (4^th – 3.30 k/s), and Robertson (8^th- - 2.70 k/s) all round out the top 10 for kills/set.
• Ricketts paces the conferences in both assists/set, total assists., and service aces.
• Averaging 4.10 digs/set, Hampton comes in at No. 3 in the NCAC.