Tiffin, Ohio – November 5, 2010 - Sophomore middle hitter Marian Bevington (Celina, Ohio / Parkway) paced four players with double digit kills to lead the Heidelberg University volleyball team to a 3-1 (18-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-12) victory over the University of Mount Union in a semifinal match of the 2010 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament.
The win secured a spot for Heidelberg in the championship match. The Berg is the host and top-seed of the tournament and will face no. 3 seed Ohio Northern University at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow (Nov. 6). It is the fourth consecutive season that these two teams have met in the finals. Heidelberg will by vying for its first tournament title. The tournament hardware would join its OAC Regular Season Championship trophies from 1986, 2009 and 2010.
Following the victory Heidelberg, who is ranked 13th in the nation, stands at 31-5 overall, which ties the 2009 team for most wins in a season. Mount Union closes its season at 21-11.
Bevington finished with a career-high 20 kills in 37 attempts with just five errors. In the end she finished with a .405 hitting percentage. Backing Bevington was Jacki Street (Grafton, Ohio / Midview) with 12 kills followed by Amber Welfle (Norwalk, Ohio / St. Paul) and Venessa Haase (Miamisburg, Ohio / Miamisburg) with 11 apiece.
Overall the Berg hitters tallied 61 kills, with 56 being assisted. Leading the way was Rachel Ferguson (Brighton, Mich. / Brighton) with 32 assists, while Alexa Frank (Tiffin, Ohio / Calvert) had 21.
All-American libero Brittany Donelan (North Olmsted, Ohio / North Olmsted) led the back row with a match-high 33 digs. Haase tallied 21 to mark a double-double and Jackie Reinhart (New Riegel, Ohio / New Riegel) had 13.
Heidelberg served up six aces led by three from Frank and a pair from Haase.