BOX SCORE WESTERVILLE, Ohio - The fifth-seeded Capital volleyball team nearly came back from an 0-2 deficit before falling to Otterbein 2-3 (10-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-19, 10-15) in an OAC Quarterfinal Match on Tuesday evening.
Capital (16-15) saw its season come to an end while Otterbein (24-8) advanced to an OAC Semifinal Match at top-seeded Heidelberg on Friday evening.
The Crusaders actually out hit the Cardinals by a .160 to .155 margin the match overall, but had a hard time stringing together any type of run in the fifth and deciding set that saw OC sideout on nine of 11 opportunities while CU could do so just eight of 14 times.
CU was led offensively by senior outside hitters Sarah Gallik (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston HS) and Jennifer Fekpe (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davdison HS). Gallik hit .240 with 10 kills and two blocks while Fekpe had nine kills and two blocks.
Classmate Allison Hostetler (Dalton, Ohio/Dalton HS) led all players with six blocks including four solo stops to help the Crusaders tally a 10.0 to 7.0 lead in blocks on the night. She also had six kills and 10 digs.
Overall, four Crusaders reached double figures in digs. Senior libero Sara Doebel (Clyde, Ohio/Clyde HS) had a team-high 19 digs while fellow senior Jenna Zumberger (DeGraff, Ohio/Fairlawn HS) collected 17 digs and dished out 37 assists.
Sophomore Courtney Diller (Columbus Grove, Ohio/Columbus Grove HS) finished with 10 of her own for the Capital back row.
After the Cardinals took the first two sets in convincing fashion, it looked as if Otterbein was going to run away with the third set early on. However, Capital was able take advantage of three OC attack errors and two kills by Gallik to build a 20-19 lead. CU would maintain the lead as the set endured and used kills by Schaefer and Heitmeyer to give itself game-point at 24-21. Otterbein came out of a timeout and won the next two points with kills before Capital took a timeout of its own before CU won the third set on a service error, 25-23.
Capital continued its momentum into the fourth set as it forced Otterbein into early attacking errors to put up a 12-7 lead. From there the Cardinals would get no closer than three at 18-15 when Hostetler regained control for the Crusaders with a kill to ignite of 4-0 run. A OC attack error, another Hostetler kill and kill by Gallik gave Capital a 21-15 advantage en route to a 25-19 fourth set victory.
Unfortunately, Otterbein jumped on Capital early in the fifth set with a 5-2 run out of the gate. However a dump by Zumberger and two Cardinal attack errors evened the score at 5-all. After the teams traded the next few points, two straight kills gave OC a 10-8 lead before Hostetler could respond with a kill. Fekpe would rip a kill down the line two points later, but it would be the last time Capital could score in the match as the Crusaders lost 15-10.