"Ohio Dominican"

  The MVNC women's volleyball team has been unbeatable at home over the past four-plus seasons. However, the Lady Cougars do not limit their outstanding play to the friendly confines of the MVNC Physical Education Center.

  On Thursday, MVNC defeated Ohio Dominican College 15-11, 13-15, 15-3, 15-7 on the Lady Panthers' home court in Mid-Ohio Conference action.

  ODC (7-4, 5-2) started the first game by taking a quick 11-6 lead. However, the Lady Cougars battled back to tie the score at 11-11. From that point, MVNC (15-4, 6-1) scored the final four points for a 15-11 victory.

  "They (ODC) played really well in the first game," said MVNC head coach Paul Swanson. "We fought back, though, and our determination helped us win the game."

  The Lady Panthers again took the early lead in the second game with a 10-3 margin. Once again, the Lady Cougars roared back and took a 13-12 lead. Then, following several sideouts, ODC scored the final three points for a 15-13 win.

  "This was a very long, exciting game," said Swanson. "Their crowd was in it, and they executed well enough to win the game."

  However, after winning the close second game, the Lady Panthers seemed to run out of gas as MVNC took the last two games rather easily. The fourth game ended with six straight kills by the Lady Cougars, including five by Christa DeLorenzo.

  "Our consistency paid off in the third and fourth games," said Swanson. "We made very few errors and we were able to frustrate them. Rachel (Widener) hit extremely well tonight, and this was a good overall team effort."

  Tara Seiter led the team with 18 kills, while Widener finished with 14 kills. Courtny Testa contributed eight kills and a team-leading four blocks, while DeLorenzo also added four blocks. Mandy Metzger served up a team-high three aces.

  The Lady Cougars will return to action on Friday evening as they host the eight-team Wazie Invitational. MVNC begins the two-day tournament against Westminster (PA) College. The Lady Titans will enter the match unbeaten and ranked 24th in the latest NAIA national poll.

  The other matches on Friday feature Spring Arbor (MI) College versus Ohio Dominican College, King (TN) College versus the College of Mount St. Joseph (OH), and Huntington (IN) College versus Seton Hill (PA) College. All eight teams will also play two matches on Saturday.