Otterbein volleyball receives at-large bid to NCAA Tournament

Despite losing to ONU in the OAC Tournament finals, the Cardinals will play Friday in Chicago

By Will Day | Published 11/11/2019 1:25pm

The Cardinals narrowly lost the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament to the polar bears of Ohio Northern.

The Cardinals lost a close and intensely contested match versus ONU over the weekend in which both teams would go back and forth in both games and points, finally ending in a 16-14 loss in a fifth set race to 15.

“I’ve been here in the conference for 29 years. That was the most impressive and high-quality volleyball championship match I have ever seen. Both teams should be so proud,” said Ohio Athletic Conference chairman Tim Gleason.

The match started with a dominant performance by the Cardinals in the 1st with a 25-21 win, but this would be the greatest lead of the match. The teams would go back and fourth in the 2nd and 3rd with 25-23 score lines in each.

The Polar Bears would go to pull off extra-point wins in the 4th and 5th game to win the match and secure an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. 

On Monday, November 11 it was announced that the Cardinals won an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and will open against Wisconsin-Whitewater this Friday, November 15 in Chicago.