The Ohio Northern wrestling team enters the 2017-18 season with high hopes under 30th-year head coach Ron Beaschler.
The Polar Bears return 12 lettermen and eight starters from last year's squad that posted an 11-4 dual meet record, went 4-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference and was 11th of 16 teams at the NCAA III Midwest Regionals.
ONU has posted ten consecutive winning seasons and has finished with more wins than losses in 45 of the program's 52-year history.
With high levels of talent and experience returning on the roster, combined with a solid incoming freshmen class, it is easy to see why optimism abounds in the ONU wrestling camp.
The 20th-ranked ONU volleyball team will be making their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday, when they face DePauw (Ind.) at Otterbein’s Rike Center in the first round.
They made it in as an at-large bid after falling to Otterbein in the OAC Tournament championship on Saturday, 3-0. Northern clinched a share of the OAC regular season title with Otterbein two weeks ago, as both teams went 8-1 in conference play this year.
Ohio Northern's Megan Nieszala (Lambertville, Mich./St. Marys Catholic Central) and Chelsea Huppert (Bremen, Ind.) were named First Team All-Great Lakes Region and freshman setter Katie Wade (Battle Creek, Mich./Harper Creek) was named the Great Lakes Region Freshman of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association for 2017.
Nieszala is a repeat selection on the All-Region squad, as she earned the honor as a junior in 2016.
Nieszala and Huppert were also named First Team All-Ohio Athletic Conference and Wade was a Second Team All-OAC pick and was the OAC Freshman of the Year earlier this week.
The Ohio Northern volleyball team is ranked No. 20 in the tenth and final regular season American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.
The Polar Bears (27-5 overall, 8-1 Ohio Athletic Conference) went 2-1 last week, defeating Marietta and Mount Union in the OAC Tournament before falling at Otterbein in the finals.
The Polar Bears will return to action on Friday at 5:30 pm when they play DePauw (Ind.) in the First Round of the NCAA III Tournament at Otterbein.
The Ohio Northern women's soccer team is ranked No. 14 in both the D3Soccer.com and the United Soccer Coaches poll.
Northern (17-1-2 overall) is ranked in both polls for the fifth consecutive week after posting a 1-0-1 record in the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament last week.
Northern returns to action Saturday morning at 11:30 am as it hosts Penn St.-Behrend in the first round of the NCAA III Tournament at Kerscher Stadium.
Senior center Amy Bullimore (Morrow/Little Miami) has been named a Preseason Honorable Mention All-American by D3Hoops.com.
Bullimore returns for her senior campaign in 2017-18 after being named a Women's Basketball Coaches Association Honorable Mention All-American in 2016-17.
The senior was tied for first on the team a season ago, averaging 14.1 points per contest and led the team in rebounds per contest (8.1), blocks per game (1.6), and field goal percentage (.529).
