Sports
Ohio Outdoes Central Michigan
< < Back toOhio compiled ten services aces and improved to 2-0 in Mid-American Conference play after defeating the Central Michigan Chippewas 3-1 (25-11, 21-25, 25-18, 25-20) Saturday night in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
“Tonight was a good win overall. Our serve was able to limit the swing of other hitters, and, additionally, scored quite a bit of points for us,” coach Deane Webb said.
The Bobcats set the tone early in the match jumping out to a 10-1 lead in set one. The run included two kills from junior middle blocker Shelby Walker, two kills by senior Kelly Lamberti and service aces from freshman hitter Jaime Kosiorek and redshirt sophomore setter Aubree Hord. CMU was able to gain a few points to make the score 12-4, but then the ‘Cats went on an 8-1 run to increase their lead to 20-5. The Chippewas never chased down the ‘Cats as they took the first set 25-11.
Just like in their previous matchup against Kent State, the Bobcats has trouble shutting their opponents out in match 2. Ohio was unable to shake off the Chippewas due to 10 set errors and both teams exchanged points until a 20-20 tie. From there, three kills from CMU and two errors from the Bobcats would give the second set to the Chippewas.
The third set started out much like the first, with the two teams keeping pace with each other and battling for every point. Ohio displayed a balance in their offense as seven Bobcats- Kosiorek, Lamberti, Walker, Mallory Salis, Karin Bull, Abby Gilleland and Chelsea Bilger- recorded at least one kill in the set. Leading 18-17, the Green and White would be able to shake the Chippewas and end the set on a 7-1 run.
“Once we found our rhythm at the end of the set, we controlled much of the rest of the game,” Webb said.
With the fourth set tied at eight, the Bobcats would string together a 12-4 fueled by three kills from Lamberti and two a piece from Gilleland and Salis. CMU was able to cut the lead to four twice, but the Bobcat offense responded with four consecutive points of their own to bring the score to 20-12. Ohio would have match point 24-16 off of an ace by junior libero Meredith Ashy, but four straight points from CMU would postpose it. A final kill from Kosiorek would end their run and the match.
“We had more hitting errors than we would have liked in the fourth set, but we controlled enough of the offensive action that it made up for the errors,” Webb said.
Ohio was led on defense by Ashy who had a sold performance with a match-high 26 digs, three service aces and two assists. Offensively, Lamberti led the match in kills with 13 while Gilleland and Bull each recorded nine.
“Karin had a good all around match, and Meredith was exceptional in the back row,” Webb said. “For the second match in a row Abby was very aggressive attacking, and it really put pressure on the CMU defense to defend her as well as our other attackers.”
The Bobcats will be back in action again next Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. when MAC competitors Buffalo and Akron come to Athens.