COLUMBUS, Ohio – The homestanding Crusaders finished second at their own Capital Volleyball Invitational after splitting a pair of matches on Saturday. CU defeated RIT, 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-13) in its opener before falling to OAC rival Heidelberg in a non-conference matchup for the Tournament Championship, 0-3 (21-25, 8-25, 19-25), Capital out hit Rochester Institute of Technology by a .388 to -.059 margin and took advantage of 12 service aces while rolling to victory on Saturday morning. Juniors Jenifer Fekpe (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson HS) and Jenna Zumberger (De Graff, Ohio/Fairlawn HS) each posted three service aces while classmate Brenda Denlinger (Arcanum, Ohio/Arcanum HS) added a pair of her own. Zumberger dished out 14 assists while senior Kara Guster (Orrville, Ohio/Orrville HS) had 13 of her own as the Crusaders hit at least .400 in each of the first two sets in the match. Junior Allison Hostetler (Dalton, Ohio/Dalton HS) led the CU offense with seven kills while also picking up four blocks. Fekpe and freshman Emily Heitmeyer (Ottawa, Ohio/Ottawa Glandorf HS) finished with six apiece. Junior libero Sara Doebel (Clyde, Ohio/Clyde HS) collected nine digs to lead the defense for Capital. The Crusaders got off to a strong start, but ultimately fell to the Student Princes in game one and could not recover in a three-set defeat.
CU hit just .162 as a team while HC finished with a .325 team hitting percentage on the strength of 40 assists, nine digs and three service aces from All-Invitational selection Morgan Magers.
Senior Jackie Helm (Lancaster, Ohio/Fisher Catholic HS) posted 11 digs in the finale to earn All-Invitational honors along with Guster who dished out 10 assists to go along with five digs.
Doebel and Zumberger added 12 and 10 digs respectively, but the Crusader defense could not slow down Heidelberg’s Jackie Reinhart who hit at a .583 clip with 15 kills and 16 digs.
Hostetler finished with three blocks for Capital which will return to action next weekend at the Washington & Jefferson Tournament on Saturday and Sunday.