ALLIANCE, Ohio - No. 11 nationally ranked Mount Union defeated Ohio Northern 25-17, 25-20, 25-21 to advance to the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament final and clinch the automatic qualification to the NCAA Tournament.

The Purple Raiders (27-5 overall) were led by Nicole Snyder (Mentor/Lake Catholic) with a game-high 14 kills. Kara Berger (Mentor/Mentor) and Mel Patterson (Mentor/Lake Catholic) added nine kills each.

Sarah Schleich (Westfield Center/Cloverleaf) posted a game-high 29 assists and reached the 2,000 assist milestone in her career. Schleich is currently fifth on Mount Union's career assist leaderboard.

Lauren Mastroine (Orrville/Orrville) led the Raider's defense with a game-high 27 digs.

Ohio Northern (19-10 overall) was led by Kristin Sessler who had a team-high seven kills and 11 digs.

With the win Mount Union advances to the NCAA Tournament by clinching the automatic bid from the OAC. The NCAA Selection show can be watched live at http://www.ncaa.com/live/player?vid=2014/1822&date=2014/11/10 on Monday, November 10 at 11:00am.

This will be the Raiders fourth straight NCAA appearence and their fifth in the last six years.

 The volleyball team will continue in the OAC Tournament as they will host the championship game against the No. 2 seed John Carroll on Saturday, October 8 at 2:00pm in the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex.