2005 NCAA Division III Volleyball Championships

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The fifth-seeded Ohio Northern Polar Bears looked strong in the opener of the 2005 NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Tournament, sweeping past fourth-seeded Mount St. Joseph, 3-0, at Wittenberg University's HPER Center.

The Polar Bears, the second-place finisher in the Ohio Athletic Conference, won by scores of 30-28, 30-24, 30-27 to improve to 27-8 on the season. Mount St. Joseph, champion of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and the regional runner-up a year ago, bowed out with a record of 27-10.

Ohio Northern, ranked 14th nationally, ran out to small leads early in each of the three games and maintained the momentum throughout. The Polar Bears were particularly effective on the offensive end as Sara McGinnis pounded 14 kills against just one error for an attack percentage of .351. Even better were the performances of Lindsey Gerard and Samantha Markham, who combined for 22 kills and zero errors in 42 total attempts, good for attack percentages of .455 and .600.

Ohio Northern was credited with just four attack errors in the entire match, and setter Erika Roof went into the books with 43 assists. Defensively, the Polar Bears were paced by libero Karlee Kanuckel with 30 digs.

Mount St. Joseph, ranked 17th in the nation, picked up 17 kills from Ashley Langenkamp and 11 each from Katie Feldkamp and Becky Breetz. Breetz led the Lions with an attack percentage of .346. Defensively, Feldkamp finished with 16 digs to lead four players in double figures, while Feldkamp and Breetz both finished with four block assists.

Ohio Northern advances to the regional semifinal for the fifth straight year. The Polar Bears will play the winner of tonight's Wittenberg/Fontbonne quarterfinal match.

2005 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Tournament Home Page