TIGERS ADVANCE TO CCAC SEMIFINAL BEHIND 57 ASSISTS FROM SKINNER

BOURBONNAIS, Ill.  – The Olivet Nazarene University women's volleyball advanced to the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Semifinals after taking down the Judson University Eagles inside McHie Arena on Tuesday night.

After Judson took a 3-2 lead early in the first set, a kill by Rachel Newport sparked a 5-0 Tiger run highlighted by a pair of kills for Katarina Nikolic.  The Tigers kept up the pace the duration of the set as Nikolic marked a team-leading eight kills while hitting at a .571 clip.  Janelle Skinner controlled the setting game as she amassed 13 opening set assists.  ONU cruised to a 25-19 first set win.  The Tigers hit .389 in the first set and Kaitlyn Kolb and Newport both hit better than .500.

After Judson won the first four points, the Tigers started to cut into that deficit.  Nikolic, Becca Bell, and Skinner scored four of the next five points but still trailed, 5-4. The Tigers took the lead marking six of the next eight points. The middle part of the set was pretty close but the Tigers managed to keep the lead by a margin of three and four points.  At 19-18, the Tigers marked six of the final seven points and won the second set, 25-19. 

ONU got off to a hot start in the third set as they tallied nine of the first 11 points.  Three kills from Bell highlighted that stretch for the Tigers.  The Eagles started to close in on the Tigers shortly after that.  At 9-3, Judson marked 11 of the next 13 points as they led 13-11.  The Eagles showed that they were the better hitting team of the third set as they defeated the Tigers, 25-22, to force a fourth set. 

A Newport kill and a Kaitlyn McMahan service ace kicked off the scoring for the Tigers in the fourth set. ONU led consistently by four or five points in the majority of the set until the Judson Eagles made things interesting.  After the Eagles called a timeout at 21-16, they rattled off six of the next eight points to cut the set to one at 23-22. 

The Eagles came back and tied the match 25 until a pair of kills by Sutton Bate sealed the fourth set victory for the Tigers at 27-25 as they took the match in four sets. 

MATCH VITALS

Finals: First Set: ONU 25, Judson 19 | Second Set: ONU 25, Judson 19 | Third Set: Judson 25, ONU 22 | Fourth Set: ONU 27, Judson 25

Records: Olivet Nazarene: 19-9 | Judson: 22-11

Location: McHie Arena | Olivet Nazarene University | Bourbonnais, Ill.

QUICK HITS

• Skinner set a new-season high with 57 assists. 
• Bell led the Tigers with 16 kills, while Nikolic and Newport followed with 15 and 11, respectively. 
• McMahan led the Tigers with 26 digs, while Brianna Cannon and Carleigh Johnson followed with 22 and 20 digs, respectively. 

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Tigers hit the road and travel to the Student Activities Center to play in a rematch of the 2020 CCAC Semifinal match against the Titans of IU-South Bend.  The time of the opening service has not been determined, but please visit onutigers.com for the most updated information. 

--ONU—

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