Pittsburgh, PA – The Wittenberg women's volleyball team returned to action at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational, splitting the day with the Eagles of Mary Washington University and host Carnegie Mellon. The Tigers dropped their first match of the day, falling to Mary Washington 3-1 [22-25, 23-25, 25-16, 27-29]. Wittenberg capped off the weekend with a 3-0 [28-26, 25-22, 25-20] sweep of the Tartans from Carnegie Mellon.

Wittenberg put together a .197 hitting percentage on the afternoon, smashing 61 kills on 193 total attacks. A trio of Tigers tallied double-digit kills on the afternoon led by Tyler Linkhart with 19 kills, putting together a .296 hitting percentage on 54 swings and just three errors. The sophomore hitter added 13 digs and three assists with one block up front for the Red and White. Katie Hiestand followed close behind with 18 kills, logging a .231 kill percentage. Hiestand added 19 digs and three assists to her total to get the day started. Hannah Schartz kept the momentum rolling from day one to day two, putting down 14 kills on 41 total attacks, adding three blocks up front.

The Tigers took care of business in straight sets against host Carnegie Mellon, putting down 50 kills on 125 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .240 to round out the afternoon. Linkhart continued to lead the charge with a team-high 15 kills in the final match, recording a kill percentage of .393, adding 10 digs to her total. Hiestand wrapped up her regular season with 14 kills, including 13 digs. Mack Ricketts tallied 40 of the Tiger's 48 digs to close out the weekend.

Heading into postseason action, the Tigers own an overall record of 19-8 and 7-1 in North Coast Athletic Conference play. Wittenberg is putting down just over 13 kills per set, hitting .223 per match, while causing problems for the opposition at the net, averaging nearly two blocks per set. Linkhart heads into the NCAC tournament ranked third with 321 kills to her name, Hiestand follows closed behind in the top five with 305. Ricketts tops the conference averaging .60 service aces per set, along with Dakota White holding down the top spot in the digs category with 583 overall, averaging 5.72 per set.

UP NEXT

Wittenberg will head to Denison for their semifinal match-up of the North Coast Athletic Conference, taking on the winner of the Ohio Wesleyan/(Wooster/Oberlin).