COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's volleyball team held off a pesky Walsh Cavaliers squad to win in three sets (29-27, 25-23, 25-15) on Friday night, its fourth consecutive sweep.

With the win, Ohio Dominican improved to 16-13 (9-8 GLIAC) and is in a tie for seventh in the GLIAC standings with Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech with one match to play for everyone. ODU plays Malone at 5 p.m. tomorrow in Alumni Hall.

This is the first time the Panthers have swept four straight matches since the 2009 season.

The Panthers held Walsh to a .132 hitting percentage as five players had 10 or more digs. Freshman Anna Ficker (Cincinnati, Ohio) led the way with 20 digs, junior Taylor Foster (Ida, Mich.) added 17 digs to a tie a career-high and senior Darby Slavin (Columbus, Ohio) finished with 16 digs to go along with her match-high 41 assists.

ODU seemed to be in control early in the match, racing to an 8-0 lead behind Ficker's serving. Ficker had three of her match-high five aces during that run, but the Cavaliers bounced back and cut it to 12-11. The Panthers extended their lead back to seven (21-14) on Foster's ace, but the Cavaliers forged back even at 24-24.

The teams then swapped points as the set remained tied at 27, but two kills from junior Jackie Oestreich (Brighton, Mich.) ended things in the Panthers' favor.

The Panthers were then forced to play from behind for much of the second set, trailing by as much as five on a pair of occasions, including 21-16. ODU responded with a 7-1 lead to take its first lead of the set at 23-22 on a block by Oestreich and sophomore Ciara Ralston (Findlay, Ohio), but Walsh picked up the next point to tie it at 23.

The Panthers again were able to close out the set strong, though, as Ralston and Oestreich had kills to put ODU up 2-0 in the match.

The third set was all ODU as the Panthers led wire-to-wire. The Panthers jumped to an 8-1 lead and Walsh never got within six points in the frame. ODU finished with 18 kills in the set and hit .304.

Ralston and Oestreich each had 12 kills in the match, senior Tory Thompson (Quincy, Ohio) finished with 11 kills and 10 digs, and Foster added nine kills while hitting .368. Ralston had just one error and hit .282 herself, while Oestreich totaled six blocks.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu