The Ohio volleyball team began defending its third straight conference championship last weekend with two victories.
The No. 20 Bobcats cruised past Mid-American Conference opponents Akron and Buffalo on the road to start out 2-0 in MAC play. It is the fourth consecutive time the 'Cats opened conference play with two wins
under coach Geoff Carlston.
Not only did the two wins put the Bobcats (10-3, 2-0 MAC) at the top of the MAC East, but they also tallied Carlston's 100th victory at Ohio.
We played really well offensively and defensively this weekend
all of our offensive players did their part and our defense was really solid Carlston said. Getting my 100th win in four years is very humbling and I am lucky to be with this team.
While the Bobcats played almost a perfect match against Akron, winning 30-14, 30-17, 30-17, they did have one slip up with Buffalo.
After blasting the Bulls 30-18 and 30-12, the Bobcats fell out of sync in the third game, and the Bulls won 30-24. Ohio regrouped and responded in the fourth game winning 30-15 for the match.
With Buffalo
we thought in the third match we'd hurry up and beat them and go home
but they didn't roll over ' they beat us
middle blocker Amanda Andersen said. But we came out in the fourth game ready to put it away and got it done.
Andersen collected 25 kills in the two matches and was a part of the Bobcats' balanced offensive attack. Against Akron, five of Ohio's offensive threats had double-digit kills.
When everyone is contributing it is huge for our offense
no one gets all the sets and it makes it tough to scout us
Andersen said. Teams can't focus on one player because the setting is well distributed. And that makes us tough to read for the defense.
As the Ohio offense flowed cohesively up front, the team wanted to have equal success on defense. The coaching staff fired the 'Cats up by telling how other teams have beat them in digs.
Libero Michaele Blackburn had 42 digs during the weekend including her season-high performance of 22 digs against Buffalo.
We really tried to emphasize defense this weekend. We didn't want to get out-dug so we focused on getting every dig and to outwork the teams on defense
Blackburn said. It was also good to see some teams that we have to play over and over through the season and get used to their style.
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