ONU BOUNCES BACK IN RECORD SETTING FASHION AGAINST SAINT AMBROSE

DAVENPORT, Iowa – The Olivet Nazarene University women's volleyball team traveled to Lee Lohman Arena and took on CCAC familiar Saint Ambrose on Tuesday night. 

The Tigers jumped on the Fighting Bees early as they marked 6 of the first 10 points.  Sutton Bate and Carleigh Johnson marked kills for ONU.  With the Tigers leading 14-8, the Fighting Bees fought back and cut the lead to 14-12.  Down the stretch, the two played very close as there was six ties in the final points.  At 21 all, the Tigers took advantage of two Saint Ambrose errors and led 23-21.  A kill from Johnson sealed the 25-22 win for the Tigers in the first set. 

The Tigers saw early offense from Katarina Nikolic, Anna McGovern, and Rachel Newport and Johnson, and found themselves up 9-4.  After the Fighting Bees cut the ONU lead to 10-9, A kill by Nikolic and a pair of service aces by Kaitlyn McMahan led a 5-0 scoring run making the score, 14-9. Later in the set, the Fighting Bees used a 4-0 run and took the lead 20-19.  A kill from Newport deadlocked the set at 20.  At a 22-20 advantage, Saint Ambrose marked five of the final six points and took the second set, 25-23. 

The Tigers took 7 of the first 10 points to open the third set.  Newport and Becca Bell provided the offense for the Tigers.  The Tigers kept their foot on the gas the rest of the set as they never let Saint Ambrose grab any momentum.  The Tigers led by as much as 11 points and won the third set, 25-15.  Nikolic connected on the final two kills for the Tigers. 

McMahan set the tone for the fourth set early for the Tigers as she sent over a service ace to start the fourth set.  ONU ended up grabbing the momentum scored early and often.  After the Fighting Bees cut the deficit to 11-5, the Tigers marked the next five points, highlighted by kills by Johnson and Nikolic. 

The Tigers tallied six of the final seven points and defeated the Fighting Bees, 25-9, in the fourth set and took the match, 3-1. 

GAME VITALS

Finals: First Set: ONU 25, SAU 22 | Second Set: SAU 25, ONU 23 | Third Set: ONU 25, SAU 15 | Fourth Set: ONU 25, SAU 9

Records: Olivet Nazarene: 14-6 (10-3 CCAC) | Saint Ambrose: 14-10 (6-7 CCAC)

Location: Lee Lohman Arena | Saint Ambrose University | Davenport, Iowa

QUICK HITS

• Nikolic led the Tigers with 12 kills while Johnson and Bell each notched 11.
• Newport connected on 10 kills. 
• Janelle Skinner led the Tigers with 22 assists and reached the 2500 assist plateau in her illustrious Tiger career. 
• McMahan led the Tigers with a career-high 37 digs, which is also tied for the second most in a single match in program history.  McMahan also passed DeeAnn Garvin for seventh on the all-time digs list with 1,551 digs. 
• Both McMahan and Johnson amassed four service aces. 
• The Tigers hit .364 in the fourth set. 

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Tigers welcome the Jaguars of Governors State University for their Homecoming match on Thursday, October 21.  The opening service in McHie Arena is set for 7 p.m.

--ONU—

*Contact: Sam Viebrock, Sports Information Director, stviebrock@olivet.edu