Wittenberg Women’s Volleyball Tops Hiram To Reach NCAC Tourney Semis

SPRINGFIELD, OH – A powerful force to be reckoned with of late, Wittenberg Women's Volleyball had little trouble knocking out Hiram in the quarterfinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at Pam Evans Smith Arena, part of the Health, Wellness & Athletics (HWA) Complex.

After a back-and-forth first set that ended in a narrow win for the Tigers, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, Wittenberg took control of the next two sets to clinch a 3-0 victory behind a record-setting offensive performance from junior outside hitter Alana Bartulovic (Cleveland, OH / Notre Dame Cathedral Latin). The straight sets win moved the Tigers into the NCAC Tournament semifinals for the 30th consecutive year, where they will face No. 1 seed Denison at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15, in Granville, Ohio. The Big Red had a bye in the first round after winning their first-ever NCAC regular season title with a 6-1 record. Denison's only conference loss came at the hands of Wittenberg on Nov. 2 by a 3-1 score.

"We are coming along at the right time, especially our offense," said Evelyn Miller, Wittenberg women's volleyball head coach. "I think Denison is a good matchup for us. But we've really improved a lot since we last played them. We did a good job (against Hiram), especially in the second set when we had 20 kills and no errors, which is impressive. We've been talking about being consistent and doing your job well at the hard things away from the ball. I think this was a good demonstration of our team's growth and trust that has developed of late."

Wittenberg, which finished in a three-way tie for second in the NCAC with Ohio Wesleyan and DePauw at 5-2, improved to 17-9 overall, while Hiram, the No. 5 seed in the tournament, finished the season with a 10-16 overall record. It was the second time the Tigers beat the Terriers after Wittenberg claimed a 3-1 road win over Hiram on Saturday, Oct. 26.

DePauw, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, defeated Oberlin, the No. 6 seed, in the other quarterfinal match, 3-0. DePauw will take on Ohio Wesleyan, the No. 2 seed, in the second semifinal match at 6 p.m., Friday, Nov. 15, also at Denison.

Set one against Hiram was back and forth most of the way until some key attacks by Clare O'Malley (Avon, OH / St. Joseph's Academy) and Kaili Worcester (Powell, OH / Olentangy Liberty) finally sealed the win, 25-22. The Tigers took command of the court early in the second set behind offensive threats Bartulovic and O'Malley to come away with a 25-13 victory. After another fast start, Wittenberg was tested late in the third set but coasted to a 25-18 win.

Bartulovic has been developing into the Tigers' go-to offensive weapon on the pin as the season has gone on, and on this night she responded by setting a record for kills in a three-set match in the rally scoring era with 21. She led the team in total attacks with 44 and in points with 21.

"I think our practices and our games show that we're becoming a cohesive unit playing for each other instead of as a group of individuals," Bartulovic said. "Against Denison, we are going to need to be on our toes and prepare for them to come out swinging because we gave them their only loss in the conference. But we're going to come out swinging, too."

Kait Colahan (Vermilion, OH / Vermilion) added 13 kills and O'Malley had nine. Four Tigers hit double digits in digs with Ally White (Harrison, OH / Harrison) tallying a team-high 17, Piper Ricketts (Morrow, OH / Little Miami) getting 14, Cam Colahan (Vermilion, OH / Vermilion) recording 13, and Mary Sulfridge (South Charleston, OH / Southeastern) adding 10. Sulfridge also led the team in assists with 40 and added a team-high three service aces.

"I think that now we have so much trust in each other and that's insane to see," said Sulfridge, talking about the difference between how Wittenberg has come together as a team of late. "We love playing together in the gym, in practices, and in games. We've definitely become stronger than we were at the beginning of the year."

Team totals for Wittenberg included 54 kills, 128 total attacks, 53 assists, six service aces, 72 digs, and only 10 attack errors. Hiram had 26 kills, 128 total attacks, 23 assists, five service aces, and 46 digs.

Last year, Wittenberg defeated Denison in the quarterfinals, 3-0, then knocked out Ohio Wesleyan, 3-1, to advance to the finals against DePauw. Witt then pulled out a 3-2 victory over DePauw to claim the championship.

Story by Cindy Holbrook; Photos by John Coffman