After the Ohio volleyball team came up short in its first two matches of the regular season, the Bobcats got back on track and went undefeated last weekend at the Mizuno Wildcat Classic in Davidson, N.C.
The Bobcats dropped matches to No. 3 Washington and No. 9 Wisconsin at the AVCA Showcase to start their schedule back Aug. 25-26.
However, Ohio beat Portland, Davidson and Liberty without losing a single game, to give it the first winning record of the season at 3-2. One difference between the two tournaments the Bobcats have played in was the way they stuck to the game plan.
We got better at taking over the game with our game plan. It took a while to get into the flow offensively and defensively
but we improved throughout coach Geoff Carlston said. Our serving got better after missing a lot against Davidson and did well against Liberty.
The Bobcats struggled with serving in their first two contests against Portland and Davidson and recorded 24 serving errors. They only allowed seven in the final match of the tournament.
Outside hitter Stephanie Blackburn attributed the serving errors to mental mistakes.
With serving we'd get into a rut after seeing someone miss one then be thinking too much when we served
Blackburn said. This weekend we came in knowing we had to win these matches and with each game our chemistry improved.
Chemistry was something the Bobcats were lacking in the AVCA Showcase. Ohio just didn't seem to be on the right page against Washington and they were getting into a better flow against Wisconsin.
Though we would have loved to come away with a win at the AVCA Showcase
we showed we could play with the top caliber teams
middle blocker Melissa Griffin said. We have always been a team that always learns from losses. We were able to focus on our weaknesses from those matches and we showed improvement in those areas this weekend.
The Bobcats showed they could compete with top teams when they were leading Wisconsin two games to one, but the Badgers rallied from behind and sent the Bobcats home with two losses after their trip to Madison, Wisc.
We really had Wisconsin on the ropes at the AVCA Showcase; it would have been nice to win that match
but I don't think losing to any top ten teams can be a negative for us
Carlston said. Our players played much better against Wisconsin with a lot more passion and it was because our chemistry was better.
17
Archives
