ALLIANCE, Ohio – Mount Union women's volleyball team defeated Heidelberg Saturday afternoon in five sets to grab a senior day win at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex.
 
Mount Union (19-5, 6-1 OAC) pushes its OAC win streak to six straight and sits atop the conference tied for first place with two games remaining while finishing the regular season at home perfect with a 10-0 record.
 
The set scores were 17-25, 25-16, 25-17, 21-25 and 15-12 as Heidelberg drops to 16-8 overall and 4-3 in the OAC.
 
Freshmen Darby Leininger (Chardon / Beaumont) and Heaven Bartell (Cleveland / St. Joseph Academy) led the Purple Raiders offense with double digit kills with 14 and 12.
 
Senior Maria Ellesin (Alliance / Marlington) finished with nine kills.
 
Freshman Alexis Meyer (Avon Lake) finished with five blocks while Leininger had four.
 
Junior setters Katie May (Brecksville / Independence) and Mollie Thomas (Massillon / Massillon Perry) had 25 and 22 assists.
 
Junior libero Alyssa Kasaris (North Royalton) finished with a game-high 32 digs while Bartell finished with double digit digs with 25 and 15 respectively.
 
The first set Heidelberg jump out to a 12-4 lead. Mount Union got as close as 18-14 but Heidelberg finished on a 7-3 run to take the first set.
 
The second set the Raiders jumped out to a 7-4 lead. A 5-2 run for Mount Union got the score out to 12-8 but Heidelberg responded to tie the game at 13. Mount Union ended the set on a 12-3 run with Bartell leading the way with three kills.
 
Mount Union jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the third set with Ellesin leading the way with two kills in the run. Heidelberg once again closed the gap to within 1 this time with a score of 12-11 but a Mount Union run of 11-2, which saw three kills from Leininger, pushed the lead to 23-13.
 
In set four both teams started the set on scoring runs eventually leading to a Raiders 9-8 lead. Mount Union got its largest lead of 18-14 but Heidelberg responded with a 11-3 run to end the set scoring the final six points.
 
In the final set Heidelberg jumped out to a 6-3 lead and then three separate 4-0 runs first by Mount Union then by Heidelberg and finished by Mount Union gave the Raiders a 11-10 lead. Heidelberg regained the lead 12-11 but once again Mount Union responded scoring the final four points to take the 15-12 set.
Mount Union heads on the road to take on Baldwin Wallace in an OAC match up on Wednesday, October 27th at 7 p.m.