No. 3 Wittenberg rode the momentum of a tight Set 1 win to a 27-25, 25-14, 25-10 victory over No. 20-ranked Ohio Northern in the Regional Finals of the NCAA Div. III Volleyball Tournament on Sunday afternoon at the Rike Center.
The Polar Bears end their season at 29-6 overall, while the Tigers improve to 24-2.
The No. 18-ranked Ohio Northern men's cross country team received an at-large bid to compete in the NCAA III Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Elsah, Ill.
The Polar Bears (113-19 overall) finished third in the NCAA III Great Lakes Regional Championships on Saturday and were led by junior Ian McVey (Stow/Munroe Falls), senior Matt Molinaro (Sterling Heights, Mich./De La Salle) and senior Bobby Borger (Perrysburg) who all earned USFTCCCA Great Lakes All-Region honors by finishing in the top 35.
McVey, the individual winner of OAC Championships and All-Ohio Championships, became the first men's runner in school history to win the regional meet.
The Ohio Northern wrestling team opened its 2017-18 season with an eighth place finish at the Mount Union Invitational on Saturday.
The Polar Bears finished with 61 points. NCAA Division II Lake Erie was first, DII Gannon (Pa.) was second, and Mt. Union was third.
ONU was led by senior Brad Taton (Mentor/Lake Catholic) and sophmore Nate Barcaskey(Moon Area), who finished second at 133 pounds and 285 pounds respectively. Both wrestlers finished with a record of 2-1. The Polar Bears finished the tournament with five individual placers.
No. 14-ranked Ohio Northern will travel to the Finger Lakes Region of New York for the NCAA III Women's Soccer Tournament Third Round and will face No. 2 William Smith (N.Y.) on Saturday at a time yet to be announced.
The Polar Bears (19-1-2 overall) advanced by defeating Penn State-Behrend 2-0 in the First Round and No. 20 Illinois Wesleyan 2-0 in the Second Round.
The Hurons (19-1-0) downed Lasell (Mass.) 5-0 and No. 24 Swarthmore (N.Y.) 2-0.
Both schools hosted the first two rounds last weekend.
Mindi Wells, Esq., PHR, of Wells Law will give the send-off at the Hardin Leadership graduation on Thursday at the Elk's Lodge in Kenton.
The county leadership group will be celebrating its 25th year with a buffet dinner at 6:30 p.m. that evening.
Wells is an ONU law graduate and a 2002 Hardin Leadership graduate. Wells Law is an employment and education law firm in Columbus. Jesse Purcell of Kenton will give the class reflections.
The annual meeting will take place following the graduation.
Ohio Northern senior Megan Nieszala (Lambertville, Mich./St. Marys Catholic Central) and sophomore Chelsea Huppert (Bremen, Ind.) were named Honorable Mention All-America by the American Volleyball Coaches Association for 2017.
Nieszala is a repeat selection on the All-America squad, as she earned the honor as a junior in 2016.
Nieszala and Huppert were also named First Team All-Great Lakes Region and First Team All-Ohio Athletic Conference earlier this season.
