'Berg Volleyball Continues to Make History
The entire fall of 2007 has seen the Heidelberg College volleyball continually exceed all expectations and heading into the first weekend of November, volleyball is still alive and well within the ’Berg community. Heidelberg had never won a postseason match in the history of the program and thus far in 2007 has won three, with the latest being a 3-1 (30-22, 30-22, 21-30, 30-18) victory over Rochester Institute of Technology in opening round action of the Great Lakes Regional of the NCAA Division III Volleyball Championships hosted by Wittenberg University.
Heidelberg earned a spot in its first NCAA Championships via an at-large bid following its runner-up finish in the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships. The win over RIT, not only marks the first win at the NCAA Championships, but is the 27th on the season, tying the record for most wins in a season. Overall Heidelberg stands at 27-10 on the year.
Eighth-year head coach Jason Miller contributes hard work and dedication to the Student Princes’ lengthy season extension. “We have forever marked ourselves in the history books at Heidelberg,” stated Miller. “Anything can happen when we play aggressive and play to our ability. We can be a pest in the tournament and it is a matter of playing our style of volleyball.”
Heidelberg jumped out to a 13-7 lead in game one, forcing a RIT timeout. The timeout allowed the Tigers to pull within three, 14-11, before a Laurie Patrick (Bellevue, Ohio / Bellevue) kill ignited three-consecutive ’Berg points to give Heidelberg the momentum. RIT would never get closer than five points the rest of the game.
Game two saw Heidelberg pull out to a 17-10 lead before RIT rattled off five-straight points to pull within 17-15. With the score pushed to 24-20 in favor of the Berg, back-to-back points from Heidelberg keyed the Student Princes to the game two victory.
RIT scored the first two points in game three and never relinquished its lead in the win, 30-21. Although Heidelberg fell behind early, they did not quit, knotting the score at 9-9, but could never overtake the scoreboard.
Heidelberg sealed the match victory with a 30-18 game four win. The Berg held a 20-15 advantage and went on to outscore the Tigers 10-8 to reach the 30-point plateau. Patrick contributed to three of the Berg’s final four points, which included two kills and a block assist with sophomore setter Morgan Magers (Green Springs, Ohio / Old Fort).
For the match, Patrick led the way with 15 kills and four blocks, while Emily Hurlburt (St. Mary’s, Ohio / Memorial) finished with 12 kills and two blocks. Morgan Magers recorded for fourth-consecutive double-double, finishing with 42 assists and 12 digs. With her outing tonight, Morgan Magers has topped the single-season record book for assists for the second-straight season. She exceeded her mark of 1,391 she set a year ago. For the year, Morgan Magers has dished out 1,423 assists. Whitney Magers (Green Springs, Ohio / Old Fort) continued to dominate with her jump serve, recording five service aces on the night to push her single-season record to 73. Whitney Magers also tallied eight kills and Audra Vucic (Lancaster, Ohio / Fisher Catholic) had nine.
Defensively, Heidelberg’s back row had a consistent showing from all defensive specialists. Leading the way was Brittany Donelan (North Olmsted, Ohio / North Olmsted) with a career-high 24 digs. Backing Donelan was Kendra Orwig (Castalia, Ohio / Margaretta) and Kristy Bollenbacher (Huron, Ohio / Huron) with 19 and 14 digs, respectively.
Heidelberg continues to trek through the championship tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. The Berg will face the winner of the Wittenberg University and Frostburg State match.