ONU EARNS A SPLIT IN SEASON-OPENING HOME TOURNAMENT

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – The Olivet Nazarene University women's volleyball team picked up their first win of the season as they earned a split in their home tournament, the ONU Invitational, Friday evening in McHie Arena.

After dropping the opener 25-15, 19-25, 26-28, 18-25 to Mount Marty, the Tigers bounced back with a 26-24, 25-13, 27-25 straight-set victory over York (Neb.).

The loss in the opener came after a strong start for the Tigers. Three kills by Halle Nicholas, a pair of kills from Kelsey Todd, and one more from Kaitlyn Kolb had ONU up 9-4 to open up the match. A kill off the hand of Molly Kurtz put the finishing touches on a set that the Tigers won by double-figures.

That momentum carried into the second set at ONU raced out to an 11-5 lead. But the Lancers ripped off eight straight points to take a 13-11 lead and they maintained the advantage from there.

In a competitive third set, Luisa Slompo put away a kill to knot up the score at 23-all. A few moments later, a Nicholas kill followed by a Lancer attack error had the Tigers at set point. However, a three-point rally from Mount Marty sealed the set. The Lancers ultimately took the win a set later.

Nicholas led ONU with 13 kills in the opener. Todd and Kurtz each finished with seven. Ashley Poland led the defensive effort with a match-high 20 digs.

In the second match of the day, the Tigers rallied from a first-set deficit to post a three-set win, putting away 42 kills on just 18 attacking errors in the process.

Trailing 24-22, ONU capitalized off three Panther errors to steal the opener. After a York service error followed by a mishandled pass, Slompo put down a kill to put the Tigers at set point. An attack into the net from York gave the Tigers the 1-0 lead.

The second set was less dramatic with the Tigers jumping out to a 9-2 lead. Two service aces from Molly Kurtz and an ace from Hadleigh Loitz contributed to the spurt that gave ONU a lead that it would hold on to for the remainder of the set.

The dramatics were back on for the third set. After another fast start where ONU collected the first five points, York retaliated by scoring 17 of the next 24 points to build a five-point advantage.

ONU would rally again to tie the game at 25-all. A kill from Todd gave the Tigers the lead while a service ace from Slompo put the game on ice and notched ONU's first win of the 2023 campaign. The win also marks interim head coach Jake Ostema's first win as a collegiate head coach.

The Tigers will return to McHie Arena next Friday, Aug. 26.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu