Sports
Ohio Volleyball makes it five straight with 3-1 win over Western Michigan
By: Max Mingay
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Ohio Volleyball (15-8) opened up its weekend of MACtion coming off a four game win streak after a successful trip to the Rubber City.
Meanwhile, the Broncos of Western Michigan (13-11) entered the Convocation Center coming off a three game losing skid that they looked to put to an end.
The game started ugly for the Bobcats as the Broncos were able to jump to a seven-to-two lead setting the tone early.
Western Michigan was dominating Ohio above the net, but it kept making mistakes that would keep the Bobcats within striking distance. Going into a timeout the Broncos led 15-11 in the first set.
Thats when Ohio decided it was done messing around and went on a five-to-one run to tie up the set at 16. The Broncos weren’t going down easy but the Bobcats were finally able to take their first lead of the game at 20-19.
After a timeout, Ohio went on a four-to-nothing run and were looking to close out the set, but Western Michigan stormed back to score three straight points.
The Bobcats held on in the set, closing out the first period 25-23.
Both teams came to play to start the second period, with neither team able to break away.
The Broncos broke the stalemate and scored three straight, forcing an Ohio timeout with the score at 15-12.
Coming out of the timeout, Western Michigan continued laying the heat on the Bobcats jumping to a 17-12.
Ohio fought back and scored two in a row and went into a timeout down 17-14.
Following the timeout, the Bobcats offense began to wake up and in the blink of an eye the score was 18-18.
This didn’t last long as the Broncos answered and ended up winning the set confidently, 25-20.
After a trip to the locker room, both teams entered the third set hungry to take a lead but it was Ohio who jumped out to a four-to-nothing lead.
Both teams were playing great with multiple plays lasting over 30 second and the Broncos were slowly creeping themselves back into the game before the Bobcats took a timeout with a 15-12 lead.
Following the timeout, Western Michigan kept up the fantastic play with two straight blocks that led to points and they were able to tie it at 16.
Both teams traded scores all the way to 24-24, but that’s when the Bobcats were finally able to pull away and win the set 26-24.
Ohio was one set away from winning the match and they looked like they wanted to put an end to it jumping out to a 8-4 lead.
The Broncos offense had gone nearly silent with most of their early points coming from Bobcat miscues or good defense.
After an early timeout, they finally began to make some noise and they were able to tie and then steal the lead from Ohio 15-14. After two more scores from Western Michigan, it looked like the Bobcats were done for.
This is when both teams decided they wanted to start scoring in bunches with Ohio tying the game 18-18, then the Broncos took a 21-18 lead, then the Bobcats responded again tying it at 21.
Finally, Ohio decided to turn on the offense and take a 24-21 lead before ultimately winning the set 25-22 and winning the match overall three-to-one.
The Bobcats were led by senior Caitlin O’Farrel who had a game high 19 kills.
Ohio next match-up is set for Oct. 29 against the Northern Illinois Huskies (14-8).