'Berg Tops B-W in OAC Quarterfinals

Freshman Venessa Haase (Miamisburg, Ohio /Miamisburg) placed a kill in the back left corner and Emily Hurlburt (St. Mary’s, Ohio / Memorial) followed with a solo block in the middle to send the Heidelberg College volleyball team to a 29-27 set three win and sweep (25-14, 25-13, 29-27) of Baldwin-Wallace College in a quarterfinal match of the 2008 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament in Seiberling Gymnasium, on the campus of Heidelberg.
 
Heidelberg, the no. 2 seed, extends its program-record for wins to 29 compared to just six setbacks, while Baldwin-Wallace, seeded seventh, finishes the year at 13-21. Heidelberg closed out its year on its home court with an unblemished mark of 8-0, and combining 2007, Heidelberg has not dropped a contest in Seiberling Gymasium in 16-straight outings. For the second-straight season the Berg will play in the OAC Semifinals, which will be hosted by no. 1 seed Ohio Northern University Friday, Nov. 7.  Heidelberg will face no. 3 seed Muskingum College in a 5:00 p.m. match.
 
Paced by three kills from Hurlburt and two service aces by Suzy Street (Grafton, Ohio / Midview) the Berg rattled off seven-consecutive points to erase a 6-3 deficit and take control of set one, 10-7. The Berg built its lead to as many 10 points, 20-10, forcing a B-W timeout. B-W responded after the break and pulled within seven, 21-14, before the Berg scored the final four-points to post a 25-14 win.
 
In set two Heidelberg jumped out to an 8-2 lead following an Audra Vucic (Lancaster, Ohio / Fisher Catholic) kill and never looked back en route to an eventual 25-13 victory. The Berg built its lead to as many as 10 points on five occasions including a 23-13 margin before closing out the 12-point victory with back-to-back kills by Hurlburt and Kelsey Elliott (Ottawa, Ohio / Ottawa-Glandorf).
 
Hurlburt led the way with a match-high 14 kills in 27 attempts with three errors for a .407 attack percentage. Backing Hurlburt was Amanda Atchison (Frankfort, Ohio / Frankfort Adena) with 10 kills and Vucic with seven. Morgan Magers (Green Springs, Ohio / Old Fort) paved the way for Heidelberg, dishing out 34 assists, while adding nine digs.
 
Defensively, Brittany Donelan (North Olmsted, Ohio / North Olmsted) dove and dug for a match-high 20 digs followed by Haase with 12. Hurlburt picked up six blocks.
 
Haase, Natalie Beck (Monroeville, Ohio / Monroeville) and Jackie Reinhart (New Riegel, Ohio / New Riegel) served up two aces apiece.