One of Ohio's best qualities so far has nothing to do with scoring or preventing points. It has everything to do with responding to them.
Through 10 games, the Bobcats have faced NCAA Tournament teams on the road and at home. Aside from a sweep of the winless Eastern Kentucky on Saturday afternoon, few of those wins have come
without some bumps.
Five Mid-American Conference tournament titles and six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances only make the existing target on their backs a little larger.
Because of their success, coming to The Convo presents a special opportunity for opponents, outside hitter Ellen Herman said.
We always have that target on our backs
Herman said before the Hampton Inn Invitational. Teams really want to come in here and beat us.
Ohio dropped a tough first set to Delaware on Saturday night, then rallied to win the match in four sets.
The next day against Missouri State, Ohio's third tournament-caliber opponent of the weekend, they ran into trouble in the second set.
After losing the second, Coach Ryan Theis said he thought his team was not being aggressive enough and they came out with a flurry in the third frame.
The Bobcats held leads of 17-2 and 18-4 against the Bears in that set and Theis cited his team's competitive nature as part of the solution.
At this point I don't know if we're being aggressive through strings of entire matches Theis said. The team gets pretty mad after a loss. We have really high expectations for this team.
Without a doubt, we have to change something we're doing at the beginning of matches.
A potential solution? Maybe we shouldn't feed them pre-game meals so they're hungrier, Theis joked.
After falling to Northern Iowa in a scrappy five-set match in Tennessee
the Bobcats won their next two matches against Georgia Tech and Middle Tennessee
the tournament host.
The Friday night loss to Indiana didn't sit well because Ohio let the Hoosiers off the hook
Theis said. They won their next three matches by a combined total of nine sets to three.
Volleyball earns weekly honors
Herman's 81 kills during the Bobcats' 3-1 weekend earned weekly recognition from the MAC office.
The senior was named the conference Offensive Player of the Week for her performance at the Hampton Inn Invitational
where she also contributed nine blocks and six aces from the line.
Each week we've had some strong candidates and beaten good teams, and we could have numerous players of the week, Theis said. It's great that two of our seniors were able to get (the honors).
Fellow senior
libero Sarah Petrulis
was named MAC Defensive Player of the Week. The always-reliable back row player racked up 69 digs on the weekend
moving into eighth place in school history for
rally-scoring digs.
Both players were also named to the invitational's All-Tournament Team.
,",2,Sports,Rob Mixer,29006a.jpg,Mike Henry | Picture Editor Sophmore Katie Post fires the ball over the net during the Bobcats' 3-1 win over MSU on Sunday in the Convo.
