By Caleb Scott
GRANVILLE — The No. 19-ranked Ohio Northern volleyball team won its sixth straight match as it swept Denison on Tuesday evening at Livingston Gymnasium in Granville.
The Polar Bears improve to 15-3 overall with the victory, while the Big Red fall to 7-5.
Northern was led offensively by sophomore Sydney Bapst's (Grove City) 10 kills.
Sophomore Chelsea Huppert (Bremen, Ind.) added nine kills, while senior Haley Potters (Wheelersburg/South Webster) and freshman Paige Hartings (Coldwater) chipped in eight kills each.
Freshman Katie Wade (Battle Creek, Mich./Harper Creek) tallied a game-high 30 assists, while sophomore Kristin Langston (Versailles) posted a team-high 17 digs.
In the first set, after DU tied the set at 5-5, Northern used a 5-0 run to take a 10-5 lead.
ONU would push the lead to as many as 24-14 before an eventual kill from Bapst closed the set one victory.
After DU closed a Polar Bear lead to 6-5 in the second set, a quick 4-0 run led by two kills from Hartings pushed the lead to 10-5.
From there, Denison would score two straight points before Bapst's three kills led another 4-0 run to push the ONU lead to 14-7.
The Big Red were able to close the gap to 20-18 late in the set before a 5-0 run sealed the set two victory.
The final set of the contest proved to be a back-and-forth battle before ONU opened up a 24-17 lead late in the contest.
Denison would then score seven straight points to knot the game at 24-24, before a DU attack error and a Potters kill completed the sweep for ONU.
Northern returns to action on Saturday afternoon as it welcomes Ohio Athletic Conference-foe Mount Union to the ONU Sports Center and opens OAC play at 1 pm.
