COLUMBUS, Ohio – For the third time this season, Ohio Dominican's volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit, capping its season with a five set victory (20-25, 24-26, 25-15, 25-16, 15-9) over Malone Saturday evening in Alumni Hall.

The Panthers closed the year with five straight wins and wrapped up with a 17-13 record (10-8 GLIAC). Unfortunately, ODU fell just shy of qualifying for the GLIAC Tournament. The Panthers finished in a tie for seventh place with Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech, but did not hold the advantage in the three-team tiebreaker for the final two spots in the conference tournament.

After falling in the first set, ODU had a 23-17 lead in the second set, only to watch the Pioneers (11-22, 4-14 GLIAC) erase it with a 9-1 run to close the set.

It was all Panthers from that point, though. Malone led 9-6 in the third set, and that would be the Pioneers' final lead of the match. ODU used a 12-2 run to go in front 18-11, capped on a kill by senior Tory Thompson (Quincy, Ohio), and the Panthers hit .294 in the set to take the 10 point win.

ODU led wire to wire in the fourth and fifth sets. The Panthers scored the first five points in the fourth frame and limited Malone to just seven kills and 10 hitting errors in taking it 25-16, and ODU hit .455 with 11 kills and just one error in the fifth set to close the comeback.

Thompson recorded 20 kills while hitting .286 in the match. The 20 kills are her second most in a match this season.

Junior Jackie Oestreich (Brighton, Mich.) finished with 13 kills and hit .324 while also totaling nine blocks, and sophomore Ciara Ralston (Findlay, Ohio) added 12 kills and 13 digs.

Senior Darby Slavin (Columbus, Ohio) finished with a season-high 51 assists and also chipped in with four kills, 13 digs and four blocks. Freshman Rebecca Skidmore (Westerville, Ohio) came off the bench for seven kills, junior Taylor Foster (Ida, Mich.) added six kills with 16 digs, and junior Megan Hendershot (Galloway, Ohio) had 15 digs as the Panthers held Malone to a .137 attack percentage.

The 17 wins is the most for Ohio Dominican in its Division II era and the five match winning streak is the team's longest since 2009.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu