Ohio has been looking up at rival Miami for the Mid-American Conference East Division lead for most of the season.
Not anymore.
After two road wins this weekend, the Bobcats tied the RedHawks for the division lead just a few days before they welcome them at the The Convo.
On Friday, the last-place Buffalo Bulls gave the Bobcats fits with an impressive serving effort. The next night, Ohio made quick work of Akron for the second time this season, extending their winning streak over the Zips to nine.
More impressive was the play of junior middle blocker Meghan Simons. Earlier in the week, coach Ryan Theis wasn't sure if Simons would be able to play because of an ankle injury.
The Lancaster native put up nine blocks on the night against Buffalo, and added 14 kills to establish a new career high. Outside hitter Ellen Herman led all players with 18 kills on the night, and junior Jane Sytsma added 11 kills.
Meghan was a big factor
Theis said. We let her practice Thursday for about 20 minutes and Friday she said she was good again. It surprised me that after going five sets on Friday she could go on Saturday.
It tells me that her injury is healing well, and by next weekend, she'll be back to 100 percent.
The Bobcats (16-7
9-3 MAC) needed a big effort late in the match
after their rally last weekend against Western Michigan ended a 15-8 final set blowout. They limited Buffalo to just 10 points in the fourth set.
Ohio's record in five-set matches is now 3-3.
(Buffalo) played extremely well and low-error, Theis said. When teams do that, they're tough to beat. We stayed in-system just enough to win the match.
Herman also tallied 16 kills against Akron on Saturday to go with 12 digs. The double-double effort was her third in a row. Michelle Jantsch registered her fourth straight double-double with 29 assists and 10 digs.
Simons led the Bobcats in blocks for the second straight match
picking up three rejections and also tallying six kills.
For the most part, we played relatively well in all aspects of the game (on Saturday), Theis said. Their ability to dig and play defense kept them in it, but in the end, we were just a little too much for them.
With the schedule winding down and teams facing each other for the second time
confidence is a key component of every championship-contending team.
Ohio needed a big effort to put last weekend's defeat behind them
and back-to-back wins put them right back in the hunt for the division title.
We feel we can win every match, Theis said. We need to play our style. I don't know if we're confident enough to say we're going to beat teams 3-0, but we feel like we a have a shot to win every match.
They feel like they can turn it on and win at any point.
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26511,2008-11-03 00:00:00,Fire severely damages Stimson home,",A house fire left two Ohio University students and several Athens residents without a place to sleep Saturday night. -
Chief Robert Troxel said.
Neighbor Holly Grim said she saw smoke coming from the two-story yellow house and came to check it out. Athens firefighters broke the second-floor windows to extinguish the flames
she added.
The fire
which caused extensive damage to the house
