Sports
Ohio Volleyball Improves to 2-0 in MAC Play
By: Mitchell Lyons
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For the first time in the 2016 season, the Ohio Bobcats swept a weekend. The Bobcats (6-8, 2-0) defeated the Buffalo Bulls (1-14, 0-2) in straight sets (25-22, 25-17, 25-22).
It was a team effort on Saturday for the Bobcats. Eight players registered a kill and eight players recorded a dig. But the key for Ohio was in serve receive.
The Bobcats aced the Bulls 13 times and were only aced three times. Jaime Kosiorek had five aces, Sara Januszewski and Brooke Coleman added three and Stephanie Olman chipped in two. When Ohio wasn’t registering an ace, they served tough and got the Bulls out of system all night long.
“My main goal back there is to get the ball in, because I know that’s what I’m good at and that’s what I did and it happened that I was able to get a couple of aces,” Januszewski said.
The two teams went back and forth to start the first set, trading points until it was tied at 13. Two straight errors by the Bobcats gave the Bulls a 15-13 lead. A kill by Kosiorek and an error by Buffalo tied the set at 16. A Januszewski kill and another Bulls error forced Buffalo to call a time out. Aces by Olman and Kosiorek capped off a 6-0 run, and Ohio led 20-16. Ohio kept the lead at four after a Kosiorek ace (23-19). Buffalo fended off two match points but a Lizzie Stephens kill ended the set.
Buffalo did not lead in the second set, and Ohio had four players with three kills each. With the set tied at two, Ohio went on a 7-0 run. During the run, Kosiorek registered three aces. Buffalo responded with a 10-3 run of their own to tie the set at 12. During their run, the Bulls had four blocks. Ali Lake ended the run with one of her match-high 13 kills and Ohio led the rest of the way.
Ohio and Buffalo traded the first 20 points of the third set. Tied at 10, Ohio went on a 5-0 run. During the run, Coleman had two aces. Buffalo cut the Bobcat lead to two (18-16) after an error by Kosiorek. But a 6-2 run put Ohio one point away from taking the match. Buffalo fended off two match points but Mallory Salis ended the hope of a comeback with a kill.
“To come out with a sweep is very relieving and knowing that we actually can do this. It’s really exciting,” Olman said
Lake led the way with 13 kills. Kosiorek added nine, Katie Nelson had seven and Stephens chipped in six. Olman guided the offense with 39 kills and Salis, who started again at libero, had seven digs. For the Bulls, Megan Wernette led the way with nine digs and Hannah Watson had a match high 10 digs.
The Bobcats are back in action Thursday night when they travel to Oxford to take on rival Miami (OH). The match starts at 7 p.m.