Have No Fear; 'Berg Makes it to the OAC Finals

It all begin with a “Let’s Go Berg” from the Heidelberg College faithful and eventually escalated into a 3-2 (26-30, 30-27, 30-17, 27-30, 15-13) ’Berg Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal victory over Mount Union College at the ONU Sports Center in Ada, Ohio. Ohio Northern University is the host institution of the tournament where Heidelberg is the three seed and Mount Union is the No. 2 seed. The win improves Heidelberg’s overall record to 26-9, which ties for second all-time in wins in the history of the program.

Heidelberg made history in the quarterfinals on Tuesday with its 3-1 win over Muskingum. The Berg is making its 16th appearance in the postseason tournament, but prior to Tuesday had not won a match. Following Tuesday’s win, head coach Jason Miller stated that “the monkey is now off our backs. We earned that initial postseason win and now let’s continue to play with out fear.”

Leading the fearless is a group of six seniors including Laurie Patrick (Bellevue, Ohio / Bellevue), Whitney Magers (Green Springs, Ohio / Old Fort), Kristy Bollenbacher (Huron, Ohio / Huron), Kendra Orwig (Castalia, Ohio / Margaretta), Katie Jones (Akron, Ohio / Green) and Tracy Sutter (Miamisburg, Ohio / Miamisburg). Miller has praised the outstanding effort that all six seniors have put into the program since coming to Heidelberg in 2004. “The senior class has been all about getting some wins in the postseason. They have done everything that I have asked for and continually have worked hard, providing a solid foundation.”

Leading Heidelberg’s offense was junior middle hitter Emily Hurlburt (St. Mary’s, Ohio / Memorial) with a match-high 24 kills and a .353 attack percentage. Backing Hurlburt was Patrick with 15 kills and Whitney Magers and Audra Vucic (Lancaster, Ohio / Fisher Catholic) with 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Morgan Magers (Green Springs, Ohio / Old Fort) dished out 63 assists, while picking up 12 digs to record the double-double. Joining Morgan Magers with a double-double was sister, Whitney with her 13 kills and 10 digs.

Defensively, Heidelberg was led by Orwig with 39 digs and Brittany Donelan (North Olmsted, Ohio / North Olmsted) and Bollenbacher with 18 digs apiece. Bollenbacher also added five service aces in the win.

Heidelberg will continue its quest for the program’s first OAC Tournament Title with no fear and will face the winner of No. 1 seed Ohio Northern and No. 5 seed Capital University tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Miller summed up Heidelberg’s tournament run with “teams that play with no fear are dangerous.”