All the Bobcats had to do was look to the bench.
A complete team effort led the Bobcats to a 3-0 sweep of Kent State in their first Mid-American Conference road win of the season. Every player was used at some point.
We followed the game plan really well
coach Ryan Theis said. I thought we were in control for most of the match.
Ohio (10-6, 3-2 MAC) fought back from early deficits in the first two sets to take a quick 2-0 lead in the match, and it was the Bobcats' offensive efficiency that put the Golden Flashes away in less than two hours.
Senior outside hitter Whitney Maiden was the story of the match for the Bobcats. The Nelsonville native led all players with 10 kills on the night (shared with teammate Meghan Simons), her career best by eight.
Whitney did a phenomenal job stepping in for us Theis said. She was fearless and extremely aggressive which is what we want from our seniors.
She played a terrific match as a whole, she played all six rotations and was really good all the way around.
What was most encouraging for Ohio was the bounce-back effort
something Theis and his staff wanted entering the weekend. The Bobcats got points from every player on the floor and were aggressive throughout.
We came out with a lot of fire and did really well in game one, Maiden said. Then, we just did the same thing in the next two games and never let up.
It was more the feeling of the team (that helped her performance on the night). You can't do anything without the setter. The passes were perfect and the team really came through together.
One thing the match did lack was defense. In three sets, there were only three team blocks recorded by the two teams combined ' one for Ohio, two for Kent State. The Bobcats recorded one block solo on the night, from sophomore Michelle Jantsch.
Serving and digging were key elements to the sweep, and Theis credited his back row players with a good first contact to set up the hitters.
Sarah Petrulis dug a match-high 15 balls, and added a service ace and a kill.
They were bringing three hitters at us in every rotation
Theis said. Fortunately for us
we served well
which allowed us to get a lot of digs. They weren't getting the looks they needed to terminate.
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Rob Mixer
