AURORA, Ill. – Ohio Dominican's volleyball team couldn't build off the momentum of yesterday's victory at the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover Tournament, dropping both of its matches to GLVC foes Saturday.

ODU fell 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 23-25, 23-25) to Drury in its opener and 3-0 to Quincy (22-25, 23-25, 15-25) in the nightcap to drop to 11-9 overall on the season. The GLVC won this year's tournament with a 29-19 mark against the GLIAC.

Against Drury, ODU rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the first setback to take the 25-19 win. The Panthers grabbed their first lead at 9-8, and with the score tied at 12, tallied four straight points on a pair of kills by Brianna Reder (Maineville, Ohio), a kill by Rachel Billing (Anna, Ohio) and a block by Reder and Caitlin Kusan (Westerville, Ohio). ODU's lead was trimmed to 20-19, but the Panthers scored the final five points, sealing the win on kills by Kusan and Tara Winner (Versailles, Ohio).

The second set see-sawed back-and-forth with 10 ties and four lead changes, but Drury went on a 7-1 run with the score tied at 15 to take control. ODU hit .281 in the set, but Drury countered with a .308 attack percentage for the win.

Drury led virtually wire-to-wire in the third, though the Panthers came back to forge a tie at 22-22 after trailing 21-18. Billing and Kusan teamed up for a block and Winner had a kill to knot the score. After a Drury point, ODU answered with a block by Winner and Emily Post (St. Henry, Ohio) to even the set at 23. Drury, though, tallied the final two points for the win.

In the fourth set, Drury roared to a 21-11 lead, but committed several hitting errors to let the Panthers back into the match. Behind the serving of Stacy Rogg (Cincinnati, Ohio), ODU rattled off 10 straight points and took a 23-22 lead after consecutive kills. Drury, though, finished with three straight kills to close the match.

The first two sets against Quincy featured a total of 14 ties and seven lead changes, with Quincy coming up with the key points late in both sets. The opening set was tied at 18 before Quincy scored the next three points. The Panthers drew back as close as 23-22 on a kill by Billing, but Quincy scored the final two points to take the set.

The second set was equally tight down the stretch, as the Hawks again held a tenuous 23-22 lead over ODU after Reder's kill. After a Quincy kill, Billing answered with a termination of her own, but the Hawks closed it on the next point with a final kill.

Quincy jumped to a 15-8 lead in the third set and didn't look back from there, holding ODU to a -.034 attack percentage.

Billing led ODU with a total of 28 kills in the two matches, hitting .300. Reder had 17 kills and Kristy Birkemeier (Columbus, Ohio) 16 to also pace the Panthers, while Kusan finished with nine blocks and Post and Winner each registered seven. Rogg had 28 digs and Billing tallied 27 to also lead the Panthers.

Ohio Dominican starts a six-match homestand this week as the Panthers play host to Wayne State at 7 p.m. Friday.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu