ALLIANCE, Ohio - The No. 11 nationally ranked and top seeded Mount Union volleyball team beat Marietta 26-24, 25-15, 25-8 on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Ohio Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament.

The Purple Raiders (26-5 overall) were led by Nicole Snyder (Mentor/Lake Catholic) with 13 kills and Kara Berger (Mentor/Mentor) with 10 kills.

The Raiders had two players with double digit digs, Lauren Mastroine (Orrville/Orrville) with 18 digs and Mel Patterson (Mentor/Lake Catholic) with 14 digs.

Sarah Schleich (Westfield Center/Cloverleaf) had 24 assists and Riley Schenk (Lorain/Amherst Steele) added 15 assists for the Raiders.

Marietta (10-20 overall) was led by Laura Mauer who had 23 assists and 11 digs.

In the first set Mount Union dug itself an early 10-2 deficit before scoring 15 of the next 22 points to tie the set at 17 apiece. The set would be tied again at 24-24 before the Raiders scored two straight points to close the set.

In the last two sets Mount Union never trailed on its way to the win. The Raiders were led in the  second set by Caitlyn Synek (Independence/Independence) who had five of her career-high nine kills. The Raiders scored 16 of the final 19 points in the third set to take the victory.

The volleyball team will continue on the tournament trail as they will host a semifinal game against No. 5 seed Ohio Northern on Thursday, October 6 at 7:00pm in the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex.

2014 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament

Quarterfinals - Tuesday, Nov. 4 

• No. 1 Mount Union d. No. 8 Marietta
  26-24, 25-15, 25-8
• No. 2 John Carroll d. No. 7 Baldwin Wallace
  25-22, 28-26, 25-20
• No. 6 Capital d. No. 3 Otterbein
  25-18, 25-19, 25-20
• No. 5 Ohio Northern d. No. 4 Heidelberg
  20-25, 25-21, 25-15, 25-23

Semifinals - Thursday, Nov. 6 

• No. 5 Ohio Northern at No. 1 Mount Union, 7 pm
• No. 6 Capital at No. 2 John Carroll, 7 pm

Finals - Saturday, Nov. 8

• semifinal winners, 2 pm at highest remaining seed