Sports
Ohio Opens Season with Loss to WKU
By: Mitchell Lyons
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The “fresh five” took the court for the Ohio Bobcats in their first ever collegiate game against No. 22 Western Kentucky Lady Toppers in their first game of the Bobcat Invitational.
Despite being without captain outside hitter Mallory Salis and middle blocker Katie Nelson, the Bobcats still put up a good fight but fell 3-1 (25-21, 25-17, 23-25 and 27-25).
True freshman outside hitter Lizzie Stephens, middle blocker Sara Januszewski, setter Katelyn Burke and redshirt freshman outside hitter Carley Remmers all started for the Bobcats. Fellow true freshman Meredith Howe also played all four sets and chipped in nine digs.
The Bobcats went into the locker-room down 2-0 coming off a set where they committed 11 errors and had a negative hitting percentage. But it all turned around in the third set. The Bobcats had 19 kills to just four errors.
“It shows our team won’t give up. We won’t back down,” Remmers said on the team’s fight. “Even if some other teams give us their all, we’re going to push back.”
A long rally was put away by Remmers and brought the Convocation Center into a roar for the first time of the evening. Ohio continued the momentum going on a 5-2 run to make it a 11-5 lead and forcing the Lady Toppers to call a timeout. After the timeout, Western Kentucky went on a 5-1 run and made it 12-10 game. The two teams traded points until a Rachael Anderson kill made it 22-20 in favor of the Bobcats. Both teams committed an error and then an Ali Lake kill put Ohio at match point (24-22). Western Kentucky was able to fend off one match point but another Remmers kill (four in the set) gave Ohio the set win.
Western Kentucky took control to start the fourth set, leading 7-4. Three straight Bobcat points tied the match at seven. A 6-3 Lady Topper run gave them a 13-10 lead. The two teams traded the next 12 points to make it 19-16, Western Kentucky. Back-to-back errors by Alyssa Cavanaugh made it a one-point game. A Januszewski kill made it a 22-20 deficit. The teams traded points until a Remmers (seven kills) kill and WKU error tied the match at 23. With the Bobcats down 25-24, Burke came up big with a kill. But WKU scored two straight to take the set and the match.
The first set was competitive as well. A kill by Jaime Kosiorek tied the set at 15. Western Kentucky took the lead on the next point and did not relinquish it. Kosiorek kept Ohio in it with six kills, but WKU scored three of the final four points to win the set.
“I think the big message for our team tonight is they should believe more,” head coach Dean Webb said. “Tonight they earned the right to believe in themselves individually and collectively tomorrow more than they did today. They can sleep well tonight.”
Ohio will likely be without Salis and Nelson again tomorrow who are out with illnesses.
In her first game, Stephens lead Ohio with 16 kills on 55 swings and had 11 digs. Kosiorek had 14 and Lake added 12. In her first game at libero, captain Brooke Coleman had 18 digs. Burke paced the offense by dishing out 48 assists. For the Lady Toppers, Cavanaugh lead all with 20 kills. Anderson provided 15 digs. Jessica Lucas lead the offense with 19 digs and 52 assists.
“[Katelyn Burke] did a nice job. I hate the way it ended for her but she had a good match overall,” Webb said. “I think it is hard tonight for anyone who’s watching to be anything but excited about the future and those kids.”
Ohio has a very quick turnaround as they play in the next game of the Bobcat Invitational on Saturday at 10 a.m. The ‘Cats play Villanova to close things out at 7 p.m.