Sports
Ohio Volleyball Sweeps Akron on Senior Day
By: Mitchell Lyons
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It was an emotional night in the Convocation Center as the Bobcats honored their seniors Saturday night, and then defeated the Akron Zips in a 3-0 sweep [25-15, 25-16 and 25-19].
The team honored its five seniors before the game. Setter Abby Gilleland, libero Meredith Ashy, defensive specialist and setter Aubree Hord, middle blocker Karin Bull and outside hitter Shelby Walker all received recognition.
“It’s a super emotional night, when near half of your team is upperclassman,” Gilleland said.
The first set was all Ohio. The ‘Cats started the game with an 8-4 run and forced the Zips to call a time out. After the time out Ohio went on another 8-4 run and caused Zips head coach Tom Hanna to spend his second time out. Ohio continued to roll after the time out, and it finished the set on a 12-7 run. Mallory Salis had seven of her game-high 15 kills in the first set.
And the second set went a lot like the first. The ‘Cats got out to an 8-4 lead, and they extended the lead to 16-9 after a kill by Salis and an attack error by the Zips. Akron was able to fend off two set points, but a service error by Karley Kusan gave Ohio its 25th point of the set and a 2-0 lead.
The third set of the match had a different feel after Akron got out to a 9-5 lead. An ace by sophomore Jaime Kosiorek, kill by Walker and two errors by Akron tied the game at nine. The teams traded the next 10 points and the game was tied at 14. Ohio scored the next two points and Akron called a time out. An error by Salis cut the ‘Cats lead to one point and made the score 20-19. Ohio got kills from Gilleland, Bull and Ali Lake and scored the next five points to take the third set and win the match.
“Tonight was one part about volleyball, and a lot of parts about honoring our seniors,” head coach Deane Webb said. “I think we did that well tonight. It was great to see those kids get a win on their senior night … it was great to honor them. I’m glad we had the opportunity.”
Coming up next for the Bobcats is the Mid-American Conference tournament. The tournament will be held in Athens because last year’s team finished first in the regular season. Ohio will enter the tournament as the two seed and has earned a double-bye. The six seed will play the seventh seed on Thursday night and the winner plays Kent State on Friday. Ohio will play the winner of the game on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. The championship game is set for Sunday at 7:30 p.m.