ADA, Ohio – No. 4 seed Mount Union fell to top-seeded and No. 17 nationally ranked Ohio Northern, 3-1, in the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament Thursday night at the ONU Sports Center.

The Purple Raiders, 21-7 overall, won the first set 25-23 before dropping the next three 14-25, 23-25 and 10-25. The Polar Bears, 21-5 overall, advance to Saturday's championship match against No. 2 seed Otterbein, a 3-0 winner over No. 3 seed Muskingum in the other semifinal.

The Raiders were led on offense by the freshmen duo of Heaven Bartell (Cleveland / St. Joseph Academy) and Darby Leininger (Chardon / Beaumont), who had double-digit kills with 13 and 11 respectively.

Junior setters Mollie Thomas (Massillon / Massillon Perry) and Katie May (Brecksville / Independence) had 17 and 15 assists.

Junior libero Alyssa Kasaris (North Royalton) and Thomas finished with 18 digs while sophomore Adrian Petrisko (Elyria) finished with 13 digs.

The first set went the way of Mount Union as they had 14 kills with just five errors and Ohio Northern had 15 kills with six errors.

Ohio Northern hit a blistering .536 with 17 kills and just two errors in the second set while Mount Union hit .182 with 11 kills.

The third set saw both teams hit in the .100 as Ohio Northern came away with the win having two less errors than the Raiders being the difference in the set.

The fourth set went the way of Ohio Northern as they hit .483 percent this time with 14 kills and no errors while Mount Union had six kills of its own.

With hopes of extending their season, Mount Union waits for a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Tournament. The selection show airs Monday, November 8th at 12:30 pm at NCAA.com.