ALLIANCE, Ohio—The Mount Union women's volleyball team swept Wilmington, 25-9, 25-17, 25-17 to bring home a senior day and Ohio Athletic conference victory Saturday afternoon.
Mount Union honored its eight graduating seniors before the match today which saw all eight Purple Raiders touch the floor and contribute.
The Purple Raiders (18-6, 3-3 OAC) were led by senior
Sadie Thomas (Cambridge Springs, Pa. / Maplewood) with 11 kills while seniors
Ava Bolen (Wellsburg, W. Va. / Brooke) and
Molly McKee (North Ridgeville) each had seven blocks for Mount Union.
Sophomore
DeLani Durst (Clyde) and junior
Anna Mihacevich (Hinkley / Padua Franciscan) with 19 and 13 assists.
Senior
Averi Haley (Orrville) led the way for the Raiders with 15 digs while Durst picked up double digits with 10 making it her eighth double-double of the season. Junior
Sam Cantrell (Eastlake / Eastlake North) and senior
Lanie Schultz (South Park, Pa. / South Park) picked up eight and five digs as well.
Wilmington (9-11, 1-6 OAC) was led by Mackenzie Simpson with six kills, Emma Specht with 10 assists and Logan McQuillin with 17 digs.
The first set Wilmington came out firing with the first four points. Mount Union then scored the next 10 points as Thomas led the was with two kills and Mount Union created two Wilmington hitting errors thanks to blocks. From there Mount Union finished the set on a 15-5 run as Mount Union finished the set out on a 5-0 run which included two service aces from Durst.
The second set Mount Union came out firing with four of the first five points as Thomas had two kills. Mount Union pushed the lead out to 7-2 with another kill from Thomas. Wilmington got within two at 11-9 but three straight blocks from Bolen and McKee pushed the lead back out to 14-9. Junior
Cami Welty (Willowick / Eastlake North) got two kills pushing Mount Union's lead out to 17-10. A kill from senior
Riley Meister (Madison) sparked a 4-0 run for Mount Union taking the 22-14 lead. The final two kills of the set came from Meister and senior teammate
Avery Ollinger (North East, Pa. / Mercyhurst Prep) which ended set two 25-17.
The final set of the afternoon started with Mount Union leading 5-3 thanks to a service ace from Haley. Mount Union then pushed the lead out to 10-4 on a 5-0 run. A back-and-forth match saw a 3-0 run which had a kill from Welty and Mihacevich pushed the lead out to 13-5. A 3-0 run which saw a kill from Bolen and then two from Thomas had Mount Union up 20-12 and the match was ended on a dig that turned into a kill for senior
Abby DeGeorge (Hartville / Lake).
Mount Union will now head into the final week of the regular season with two OAC matches away from home heading to Muskingum and Ohio Northern.
