ALLIANCE, Ohio—The Mount Union women's volleyball team swept Hiram Wednesday night with scores of 25-19, 25-21 and 25-20 to run its win streak up to nine games.
The Purple Raiders (9-2) were led by a dominate performance by junior
Heaven Bartell (Cleveland / St. Joseph Academy) with a game-high 15 kills on 26 attempts with just one error for a hitting percentage of .538 and also picked up 14 digs and two service aces.
Sophomore
Sydney Mercer (Salem / West Branch) finished with 12 kills while junior
Alexis Meyer (Avon Lake) finished with nine kills on a hitting percentage of .412.
Junior
Casey Kildow (Bethesda / Union Local) and freshman
Melissa Hansen (Hudson) had a game-high 27 and 17 assists. Freshman libero
Averi Haley (Orrville) had a game-high 20 digs on the night while Bartell finished with 14.
Hiram (4-10) was led by Emily Richardson with 13 kills, Brooke Fishback with 16 assists and Brooke Norris with 16 digs.
The first set saw neither team get a lead larger than three until Mount Union went on a 5-0 run which included a kill from Bartell and junior
Darby Leininger (Chardon / Beaumont) to push the lead to 18-11. Hiram responded with four straight points to close to 18-15 but another 5-0 run from Mount Union had the lead out to 24-16. Mount Union finished off the set, 25-19, on a kill by senior
Maddie Wentz (Akron / Hoban).
Early in the second set Mount Union went on a 5-1 run which included three kills from Bartell to take a 6-3 lead. A back and forth battle in the middle of the set saw ties at 12, 13, 14 and 15 as Mount Union grabbed a 19-16 lead on a 4-1 run. Hiram got as close as 22-21 but a 3-0 run finished the set off with two kills from Bartell.
The third set Hiram took a lead at 9-8 but then a 7-1 run from Mount Union including two kills from Mercer and Meyer gave Mount Union a 15-10 lead. Hiram closed to within two at 18-16 but a 6-2 run from Mount Union gave them a 24-17 lead. A 3-0 run gave Hiram some life but a kill from Kildow finished off the match.
Mount Union now will travel to Baltimore, Maryland for a weekend tournament at No. 8 Nationally ranked Johns Hopkins University. The Raiders will take on Salisbury on Friday at 4 PM while getting to play Scranton and Johns Hopkins on Saturday at 10 AM and Noon.
