WESTERVILLE – The Heidelberg University volleyball team opened up Ohio Athletic Conference play in a big way on Wednesday at Otterbein. The Student Princes stormed into Westerville and swept the host Cardinals 25-19, 25-16, 25-21.

KEY STATS

Jamie Kluding led the Berg with 12 kills, making a big return after missing this past weekend's matches at Wittenberg while attending her sister's wedding.

Heidelberg showed consistency on the attack throughout the match, recording hitting percentages of .273, .273, and .250 in the three sets.

Janessa Scott had one of her better performances on the year to this point, tallying 11 kills with a .381 hitting percentage.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Back-to-back kills by Kluding to open the match helped the Student Princes get out to an early lead that they were able to build out to 6-2. After Otterbein was able to pull the first set close with a 14-12 score, Heidelberg found a groove and got out to a 20-14 lead after a kill by Laura Schrag. From there, the Berg was able to trade points and finish out the set with the 25-19 win.

The second set was close early on, but Heidelberg found their rhythm yet again. After the set was tied at four, the Student Princes seized the lead with three-straight points and never relinquished it, pulling away for the 25-16 victory in the second set.

Heidelberg (10-3, 1-0 OAC) showed their ability to battle back from adversity in the third set, as Otterbein held on to a 13-9 lead midway through the set. A few errors by the Cardinals and a kill by Mariah Sullivan brought the deficit to just one before the Berg was able to break through again.

Otterbein (7-6, 0-1 OAC) was able to capture the lead 22-20 late in the set, but a kill by Kluding, and ace by Rachel Raimondo, and a pair of errors by the Cardinals wrapped up the match with a 25-22 set win for the Student Princes.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Raimondo led the Berg defense with a team-high 12 digs. Kluding chipped in eight digs while Sydney Moore and Karlie DiRuzza each had seven.

Heidelberg took full advantage of Otterbein mistakes in the match, as the Cardinals had 19 attack errors and nine service errors.

UP NEXT

The Student Princes will travel to Michigan this weekend for four non-conference matches. Highlighting those four contests are matchups with 5th-ranked Calvin on Friday at 5:00 p.m. and 12th-ranked Hope on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.