ERIE, Pa. – Ohio Dominican's volleyball team split its two matches at Friday's Gannon-Mercyhurst Invitational, taking a 3-1 (27-25, 25-15, 22-25, 25-22) victory over Holy Family (Pa.) before falling by a 3-1 score (17-25, 25-21, 22-25, 14-25) to Mercyhurst.

The Panthers now stand at 2-3 on the season, while Holy Family fell to 0-7 and Mercyhurst improved to 5-1.

The middle hitting duo of freshman Lauren Kraemer (Kettering, Ohio) and sophomore Caitlin Kusan (Westerville, Ohio) carried ODU to the victory over Holy Family. The pair combined for 20 kills in 36 attacks, with Kraemer setting a season-high with 11 and Kusan chipping in with nine.

ODU put forth its best defensive effort of the season, with four players tallying double figures in digs. Freshman Tory Thompson (Quincy, Ohio) led the way with 23, followed by freshman Darby Slavin (Columbus, Ohio) with 17, sophomore Bailey Barker (Muncie, Ind.) with 16 and freshman Kelsey Fortney (Lorain, Ohio) with 14. Overall, the Panthers held the Tigers to a .108 attack percentage.

Slavin also registered a season-best 36 assists in the win, while freshman Kelsey Barker (Muncie, Ind.) had 11 kills.

The opening set was knotted at 11 when Holy Family scored three straight to go in front 14-11. They led 17-13 before the Panthers rattled off five consecutive points, including an ace from Bailey Barker and a Kusan kill, to take the lead. The Tigers rallied to grab a 23-21 advantage, but kills from Kraemer and Thompson tied it for ODU. Finally, tied at 25, Holy Family committed consecutive errors to allow ODU to grab the first set.

Like the first set, the second was tight early, but with the Panthers holding a 12-10 edge, ODU went on a 6-1 run to build an 18-11. ODU's offense took control during that spurt, as Kusan, Thompson, Slavin and Kraemer each notched kills to spark the run and give ODU a 2-0 lead.

The Tigers came back to claim victory in the third set, though, sending the match to the fourth. Again Holy Family jumped to an early lead, eventually going in front 13-9, before ODU answered. The Panthers would tie it at 15 on a block by Thompson and Kraemer, then tallied three straight points on Tiger hitting errors. Holy Family cut its deficit to 23-22, but committed two more errors to give ODU the win.

In the loss to Mercyhurst, ODU played well in the second set, breaking free from a 10-10 game with a 7-1 burst. Thompson had three straight kills during the run, which gave the Panthers a 17-11 lead that they would not relinquish, closing the set with Kraemer's kill for the six-point win.

The host Lakers, though, would bounce back to claim victories in each of the final two sets to take the win.

Thompson would finish with 14 more kills in this match, followed by Kelsey Barker's 10 as the Panthers hit just .088 as a squad. Bailey Barker finished with 17 digs and Slavin narrowly missed her fifth double-double to start the year as she had 31 assists and nine digs.

Ohio Dominican concludes its seven-match tour of Erie with a pair of contests tomorrow, taking on West Virginia State at 1 p.m., followed by a 3:30 p.m. match against Gannon

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu