Ohio Northern Tops Westminster In First Round Of NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Tournament

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The third-seeded Ohio Northern Polar Bears slowly pulled away from the sixth-seeded Westminster Titans for a 3-1 win in a first round match at the 2008 NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Tournament at Wittenberg University's Pam Evans Smith Arena.

The Polar Bears, ranked No. 8 in the nation after capturing the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships, advanced to the regional semifinal with a record of 31-4. The Titans, regular season and tournament winners in the Presidents' Athletic Conference, concluded the campaign with a record of 24-11.

The statistics reflect an extremely evenly played match, won by Ohio Northern by set scores of 25-23, 25-21, 17-25, 25-14. The Polar Bears never took full control until the late stages of the fourth set, thanks in part to long serving runs by Renee Berry, Kasey Roeser and Liz Schnelle.

Ohio Northern was paced offensively by Liz Schnelle, who pounded out 22 kills on a whopping 52 attack attempts. Berry added 11 kills in support as the Polar Bears posted a team attack percentage of .138. A key to the offensive attack was the fine play of setter Katie Weininger, who dished out 45 assists and added three kills on a .273 attack percentage.

Defensively, Ohio Northern picked up 23 digs from Roeser to lead four Polar Bears in double figures in the category. Also of note was Markham's five blocks.

Westminster hit .123 as a team, led by Sam Botzum with 11 kills and Lindsay Speidel with 10. Traci Hassell distributed 23 assists, while Jessie Szakacs added 11. Hannah Parker led all players with 28 digs, one of five Titans in double figures. Speidel was strong at the net with a match-high seven blocks.