Volleyball Hosts Marietta in OAC Tournament Quarterfinal Match Tuesday

Second-seeded Mount Union hosts Seventh-seeded Marietta in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Ohio Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament Tuesday at 7 pm at The McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex in Alliance.

Tickets will be available at the door for $5 for adults and $2 for non-OAC students.  OAC students are FREE with an ID.

Mount Union, led by fourth-year coach Leigh Ann Matesich, is making its 20th overall and 13th straight OAC Tournament appearance. The Purple Raiders have previously participated in the OAC Tournament in 1984-85, 91-95, 97-2008. Mount Union is 12-19 all-time in OAC Tournament play, finished runner-up in 1999 and has been knocked out in the semifinals each of the last three seasons.

Senior outside hitter Melissa Mahnke (North Royalton/North Royalton) and senior middle hitter Sarah Parker (Geneva/Geneva) anchor the Mount Union offense. Mahnke averages 3.41 kills, while Parker contributes an average of 2.67 kills. Mahnke, an All-American a year ago, is also Mount Union's career kills leader with 1,561 kills.

Junior Katie Kmieck (Lakewood/Lakewood) and sophomore Julie Radigan (Olmsted Falls/Olmsted Falls) have handled setting duties and Kmieck is dishing out 5.65 assists per game while Radigan is at 8.64 assists per game in 2009. Junior defensive specialist Sarah Dean (Strongsville/Walsh Jesuit) leads the defense by averaging 5.28 digs, while Manke is adding 3.47 digs per game. Parker and sophomore middle hitter Leah Hirsch (Frankfort/Adena) lead the play at the net with 78 and 64 total blocks, respectively.

Under the helm of third-year coach Ray Costa, Marietta is making its 14th OAC Tournament appearance third in the last 4 years. The Pioneers. who are 5-13 in OAC Tournament history, have previously participated in 1984-88, 90, 96, 99-2001, 03, 06-07 and have twice finished runner-up (85, 87). Marietta's last OAC Tournament victory came against Mount Union in 2003 when the fifth-seeded Pioneers upset the fourth-seeded Purple Raiders 3-2 in the first round.

Marietta is led offensively by freshman outside hitter Amanda Sawicki. who has averaged 2.91 kills and is coming off a school-record 32-kill performance against John Carroll. Sophomore outside hitter Alex Weissling and sophomore right side hitter Meredith Storey have also contributed 2.82 and 2.63 kills, respectively, in 2009. Freshman setter Ally Jenkins runs the offense and averages 8.64 assists. Marietta, keyed by Weissling, senior libero Becca Holzworth and freshman outside hitter/defensive specialist Jen Braun, is also averaging 1.92 service aces this season.

Holzworth, Marietta's all-time leader in digs with 1,793, anchors the defense by averaging 4.74 digs in 2009. She is just 31 digs shy of 10th place on the OAC's all-time list. Braun, Jenkins and Weissling are also averaging over 2.0 digs this season. The Pioneers' defense has set a new standard for block assists this fall, having combined for 316. Freshman middle blocker Sarah Campbell leads the way with 17 solo blocks and 73 block assists. Freshman middle blocker Alexa Baudo and Storey have added 65 and 55 total blocks, respectively.

Heidelberg captured the regular season title and the top seed in the 2009 OAC Tournament. The Student Prince open against eight-seeded Muskingum. The other first round match-ups pit third-seeded Ohio Northern against sixth-seeded John Carroll and fourth-seeded Otterbein  against fifth-seeded Capital.

All four first round matches will take place on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The highest remaining seed will host the semifinals on Friday (Nov. 6) at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. and the finals on Saturday (Nov. 7) at 2 p.m.