Sports
Ohio comes back to defeat Toledo in five sets, giving Carlston 200th win
By: Marc Goldstein
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Geoff Carlston took a couple seconds to take in the moment. Rarely in his life has he been the center of attention, usually pushing any acclaim and achievements to his players and staff. However, on a night that he won his 200th career game as the Ohio head coach. On Friday night in The Convo, Carlston took center stage as he was given his flowers by the home crowd.
Coming off win No. 199 as the Ohio coach, a five-set thriller against Akron, Carlston and Ohio (6-8, 2-1 MAC) anticipated a battle against Toledo (9-7, 2-2 MAC), the team that knocked Ohio out of the MAC Tournament last season.
The match started with Ohio and Toledo trading points before Toledo took an early 6-2 lead. The teams traded points, but Ohio never could get the deficit to any fewer than two points. Toledo stretched the advantage to 20-15, putting Ohio in a bind early in the match. Ohio responded with an 8-1 run to put it in the lead, 23-21. Ohio and Toledo would engage in extra volleyball, both teams unable to emerge with the two-point advantage to take the set. Toledo would get a pair of set points, but kills by Anna Kharchynska would tie the score each time. Ohio would use a subsequent kill by Elizabeth Hoerlein to vault it in the lead for good, winning the set on an error by Toledo.
The second set would be another back-and-forth affair, but Ohio would ride a 6-0 run to take a 10-4 lead. Toledo would not go away, storming back to make it a two-point set. However, Ohio continued to pick up kills from Darbi Ricketts and Kam Hunt to push the lead to 15-11. Toledo would go on a 4-0 spurt to tie the score at 15 apiece. Toledo and Ohio would pass the lead around for the next couple of points before the set was tied at 24. Again, the teams would go to overtime, but Toledo took this set, 26-24 to even the overall score.
In the third set, the teams traded runs. Toledo went on an early 6-0 run before Ohio answered with a 6-1 spurt of its own to draw ahead. Toledo went on its own 6-1 run with three of those points coming via attack errors by Ohio. Despite the run by Toledo, Ohio embarked on one of its own, taking a 13-11 lead. Toledo would not relinquish any ground as it retook a 17-14 advantage.
Although Ohio put forth its best efforts to win the set by taking multiple leads, Toledo stole another set, pushing Ohio to the brink of defeat.
If the first trio of sets were an indication of the tight match, the fourth completely took that notion and turned it upside down. Ohio dominated the set, taking leads of nine multiple times before winning the set, 25-14, and forcing a decisive fifth set.
The fifth set was shaping up to be a coronation for Ohio as it took an early 6-2 lead with just nine points to go until victory. Toledo, like it had all night, refused to allow Ohio to take a commanding lead for long. Toledo would claw its way back, taking a 10-9 lead.
For just a few moments, it looked like the Bobcats would squander the advantage and positive play that it had accrued to that point in the last set and a half. However, Hunt came in with a clutch kill before another two points were picked up by the Bobcats, who held serve and won the set, 15-12.
In the match, Ohio had 78 kills as compared to Toledo’s 56. However, the sheer amount of errors by Ohio kept Toledo in the match, something that has plagued Ohio all season. One thing that did not plague it tonight was being able to close sets, particularly long ones that seeped into extra volleyball.
Ohio won in typical Carlston fashion: gritty and powerful. It was fitting that on a night that ended with Carlston being recognized for his achievements that his team mirrored his preferred play style, albeit with a few extra errors than he might like, to deliver a historic win.