ONU DROPS TWO IN HOME TRI-MATCH

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – Playing in their first matches in over a week against stout competition, the Olivet Nazarene University women's volleyball team dropped a pair of games Saturday afternoon in McHie Arena.

The Purple and Yellow Gold knew they had a tall task ahead of them heading into the home tri-match, taking on the conference's top team Judson before squaring off against Mount Vernon Nazarene, who checked in at No. 19 in the latest edition of the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll.

The Tigers were unable to take a set in the opening match against Judson in the 25-12, 25-18, 25-17 setback. The Eagles (13-1, 8-0 CCAC) raced out to early leads to take the opening two sets handily, but the Tigers had their chances in the third.

Trailing 12-10, Kaylee Cozen put down a kill to cut the deficit to one. She then rattled off four straight points on her serve, including two service aces, to take a three-point advantage midway through the set. But Judson showed their resilience by scoring 12 of the last 13 points to take the set and the match.

The Tigers tabbed just 27 kills on a .161 hitting percentage, compared to the Eagles' 47 kills at a .385 clip. Halle Nicholas led a balanced attack with eight kills. Sabrina Sanif added five, and Cozen and Kelsey Todd each secured four.

Hadleigh Loitz tallied 20 assists and added three digs. Karsyn Delbridge led the defensive effort with eight digs.

Turning around to take on one of the nation's top teams, ONU offered little resistance in a 25-15, 25-11, 25-18 loss to No. 19 Mount Vernon Nazarene (22-5).

Nicholas again led the way, this time finishing with seven kills. Cozen and Todd each put down four. Anna Taylor had three while Loitz and Sanif each finished with a pair.

Loitz notched over 20 kills for the second time in the same day, tallying 22 in the finale. She also contributed seven digs. Sara Serafimova and Ashley Poland both had double-digit digs while splitting sets as libero, notching 12 and 11, respectively.

The Tigers will return to their conference schedule with a match at St. Francis Tuesday afternoon in Joliet, Ill. The game is set to begin at 7 p.m.

--ONU—

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