Sports
Ohio Volleyball: Olivia Margolies leads Bobcats to third straight sweep
By: Curtis Feder
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The Ohio volleyball team took on the Buffalo Bulls Friday night in the Convocation Center. Ohio was hot, sweeping their last two home games.
The first set was dominated by freshman phenom Olivia Margolies. She had 9 of her team leading 14 kills in the first set, leading the offense for the Bobcats.
“She was off to an unbelievable start, and did a great job,” Ohio Head Coach Deane Webb said. “She’s a good player now, and as she hits the weight room in the Spring she will become a great, great player sooner rather than later.”
Buffalo made their move mid way through the set, taking a 15-11 lead, but the Bobcats clawed their way back and knotted up the game at 20 apiece.
Whatever the coaching staff said in the huddle during the timeout definitely worked. Ohio came out firing, and pulled away to win the firstset 25-22.
The second set as a constant battle from the opening serve. The lead margin did not exceed 3 points throughout the entire set.
Over this past season the Bobcats have had a tendency to turn it on late in sets, and they did the same in this one. Despite their efforts, Buffalo would not go away, staving off two set points
Ultimately, Ohio came in clutch when they needed it most and won the second set 26-24.
The third set was another tight one, constantly being fought back and forth. Maggie Nedoma got hot in this set, and made her impact known throughout.
Ohio struggled offensively, but Buffalo was making errors that kept the Bobcats in it.
The Buffalo Bulls kept their grit through the whole match, and stormed ahead to take a commanding 22-18 lead, as all signs looked like this match was heading to a fourth set.
If there is one main takeaway from this match, it is to never count out the Ohio Bobcats.
They stormed their way back, and the Bulls could not find an answer. Ohio went on a 7-1 run, and came back and ripped the third set away from them, successfully completing the sweep.
“We didn’t let the score bother us. We knew we could come back; we’ve done it before. We just focused on taking it point by point and doing what we do,” Margolies said.
In their first meeting this season, Ohio came away with a grueling five set victory, this time it’s the same result but a completely different story.
This win is the third straight victory at home for the Bobcats, and in all three they never dropped a set.
Their recent success puts them into the discussion for a place in the NCAA tournament. Maggie Nedoma envisions the team’s outlook for the rest of the season.
“Now we know that we should have a spot in the tournament, which is what we’ve been working for. Going into Akron, if we sweep the weekend, and some other things play out, we’re gonna have a really good spot that we might not have had a few weeks ago.” Nedoma said.
The Bobcats will try to win their 4th straight game in the Convo Saturday night as they face Akron for senior night, and look to use these good results at the end of the regular season as momentum into the MAC tournament.