'Berg Takes Home Golden Flyer Tourn. Title

Rochester, N.Y. – September 12, 2009 – The Heidelberg University volleyball team claimed the 2009 Golden Flyer Tournament championship following a 3-1 (25-15, 24-26, 24-14, 25-9) victory over Cortland State. Nazareth College hosted the tournament Sept. 11-12 in Rochester, N.Y. Following its win Heidelberg owns a 7-2 overall record. For their efforts over the course of the tournament, Heidelberg’s Morgan Magers (Green Springs, Ohio / Old Fort) and Venessa Haase (Miamisburg, Ohio / Miamisburg) earned a spot on the all-tournament team. Magers was tabbed the Most Valuable Player.
 
Heidelberg earned a place in the championship match by virtue of a 3-0 record versus fellow Pool B opponents. On Friday, Heidelberg topped SUNY New Paltz 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-23, 23-19) and Fredonia State 3-0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-19). Its championship bid was sealed with a 3-1 victory over New York (20-25, 25-18, 25-13, 25-20).
 
The Berg tool control of set one with a 5-0 run to break an early tie and never looked back. Its lead reached as many as nine points, 20-13, forcing a Cortland time out. Following the break, Heidelberg went on to outscore its opponent 5-2 down the stretch to push its final margin of victory to 10 points, 25-15.
 
Set two was a hard fought battle that stretched its result to 26-24 in favor of the Dragons. With the score tied at 20-20, Cortland State pushed ahead by two before the Berg responded with a 4-1 run to pull ahead 24-23 following a Dragon hitting error. The Dragons were forced to take a time out and came back with a service ace and relied on a ’Berg hitting error to even the match at a set apiece.
 
Heidelberg whipped back into shape quickly for set three, taking an early 7-3 lead, which was the closest that the Dragons would get the entire match as the Berg posted a 25-14 win.
 
Jacki Street (Grafton, Ohio / Midview) and Amanda Atchison (Frankfort, Ohio / Frankfort Adena) set a precedent for the Heidelberg attack game from the onset of set four to pave the way for a 25-9 victory and a championship. Of its first 15 points, 10 came off the swing of the Heidelberg hitters.
 
Haase and Magers led Heidelberg’s offense in the win. Haase had a team-high 15 kills, while Magers dished out 43 assists. Atchison also finished with double digit kills with 10. Haase and Magers each finished with double-doubles after recording 17 and 13 digs, respectively.
 
Brittany Donelan (North Olmsted, Ohio / North Olmsted),  Jackie Reinhart (New Riegel, Ohio / New Riegel) and Suzy Street (Grafton, Ohio / Midview) combined for 47 digs for the back row, led by Reinhart’s 18.
 
At the net, Atchison had five block assists, while Magers and Reinhart had two apiece.
 
Serving up five aces was Haase and Reinhart followed with four.