Unlike Nancy Sinatra's, these boots were made for winning.
Heading into the final two Mid-American Conference matches this weekend, both teams in pursuit of the Bobcats shared a glimmer of hope. In short order, that glimmer was squashed by an offensive solar eclipse.
Ohio swept a conference opponent for the 12th time in 16 matches this season at Bowling Green (12-19, 5-11 MAC) Saturday night. But the second sweep this year of rival Miami gave the Bobcats(23-5, 15-1 MAC) the outright MAC regular-season title Friday.
And for the sixth time in seven years, the Bobcats have registered at least 15 wins within the conference.
Outside hitter Ellen Herman tallied 19 kills in Millett Hall to lead all players, and Katie Post added 12 to gut out a sweep in three nail-biting sets. After Herman ended the opening set with a kill, Post resurrected her team from a 22-24 deficit and erased set point for the RedHawks.
Post's kill late in the set brought Ohio back to within one, and a Miami attack error evened the score at 24-all. Michelle Jantsch's sneaky setter dump capped off the rally.
The defeat ended Miami's chance of claiming the top seed in the MAC.
They didn't give us much
Ohio coach Ryan Theis said. Game 2 was close but then we took over. In game 3 they had it and we stole it from them.
Miami wanted that win and I was happy we finished it off.
The Bobcats hit more than .300 as a team in both matches
and had at least one player hit over .600 each night.
And though they were the target all season
it was another team that was almost unanimously selected to overtake them.
In the pre-season conference coaches' poll
the consensus was a resounding vote for Western Michigan to win the MAC regular-season crown.
When the Broncos put a 3-0 hurting on the Bobcats a month ago
they appeared to be in the driver's seat.
A late stumble against the RedHawks (16-12
11-5 MAC) last week
coupled with a weekend sweep by Ohio
reversed the field and put the Broncos in the rearview mirror.
The Bobcats' senior class will get its chance at another tournament title
and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
Ohio left Oxford on Friday night with the top seed in the conference tournament
