Stepping up to serve with her team down 12-5 in the first set of the Bobcats' game at Central Michigan last weekend, Nicole Staverman just didn't want to make a mistake.
In Ohio's 3-2 win, the junior defensive specialist said she knew a missed serve would give the Chippewas the momentum to go for the win.
We kind of needed an energy boost
Staverman said. There were crazy fans. I just had to focus and work on fighting back.
I just focused and kept them in, thank God.
Staverman rattled off three straight aces and brought her team back into the match.
She also provided a blueprint for Ohio (10-5 2-0 Mid-American Conference) servers in the match. Coach Ryan Theis said the Chippewas struggled with Staverman's serve.
Staverman stands about 10-15 feet off the court and the ball flies to the opposite end from which she starts. Theis said that after Staverman's ace serves
he changed Katie Post's and others' approaches from jump serves to replicate that of Staverman's.
It put some doubt in the other team's mind, Theis said. In scouting, if you don't see a team doing that against them, you don't really prepare for it. So, not only was that play huge for our team's momentum, but it also showed a bit of a weakness that we tried to exploit for the rest of the match.
The tactic worked
as the Bobcats recorded 10 aces in the match
compared to Central Michigan's three.
SERVICE ERRORS
Not everything went well for the Bobcats on the serve Saturday.
Ohio had 18 service errors during the win
a number that Theis said he would like to reduce. He said he found it troubling that four of the errors occurred after timeouts.
It's a little higher on the errors, but when you have 10 aces, you kind of roll with it and keep staying aggressive, he said. I'm really okay with us missing two per set, so 10 would have been the ideal number.
But he did point out that the Bobcats aren't the worst team in the conference with service errors.
I was looking at the stats today, and Buffalo has 50 more service errors than we do. We typically pride ourselves on leading the league in missed serves, Theis joked. Our team's probably going to be a little bit bitter that Buffalo has missed a few more than us.
DEFINING ROAD MATCH
To win the conference
Theis said it is helpful for his team to play a couple of road matches where the odds are stacked against them.
Theis pointed to last year's 3-0 sweep over Northern Illinois Oct. 23. The Bobcats were 8-0 in conference play
but the Huskies were on a five-game winning streak.
Describing the arena as a cave
Theis said it was as loud as anyone could imagine for collegiate volleyball.
After that match, I told our team that (the win) was going to separate us and gives us the conference championship and congratulated them for that win, he said.
Theis said it was too early to give the Central Michigan win that distinction
but the team took the same approach.
It was a neat environment to play in, he said. We needed to take our best game there and fight them off on their turf, and we did. For that, we are extremely excited.",",2,Sports,Matt Wagner,32413a.jpg,Ohio defensive specialist Nicole Staverman digs the ball during the final game against Kent State Thursday at the Convocation Center. The Bobcats shut out the Flashes
