At the dawn of an important stretch of season-ending games, the Bobcats shined, defeating Kent State 3-1 last night on the road.
Despite dropping a back-and-forth second set, Ohio (14-10, 6-5 Mid-American Conference) dominated the last two, controlling every statistical category en route to a critical MAC-East win over the Golden Flashes.
If we want to win the MAC East
now is the time to start playing better and finishing games Theis said. We control our own league destiny.
With the victory, Ohio moves into a half-game lead over the Akron Zips in the MAC-East race. Whoever secures the division will automatically earn the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and with it a first-round bye. Akron will play tomorrow evening against Miami.
In the first set and second set, the Bobcats traded points with the Golden Flashes. The score was tied 12-12 before Ohio rattled off three straight points to gain a control of the set they didn't let go of, winning the set 25-22.
The Golden Flashes won the battle in the second, scoring the set's last three points to capture the win. In an event seen frequently all season, Ohio failed to maintain a lead late in a set.
They (Kent State) did a good job scoring on awkward point attempts Theis said. Our defense wasn't performing as well as they could have
and that hurt us.
Unlike previous matches, though, the Bobcats didn't let the lost set deter them and pounced back in the third. Ohio scored 10 of the last 13 points in the set, led by a strong performance from senior outside hitter Sue Jacobi. The senior tallied 19 kills on the evening to lead the Bobcat attack.
I thought that
in the games we won
we came out and had to earn those wins
said coach Ryan Theis. We did a really good job finishing games tonight.
Ohio continued its domination in the fourth and final set, using 15 kills and six errors as a team to finish off Kent State, 25-18.
Setter Michelle Jantsch also had a strong game on the evening, scoring six kills, 30 assists and nine digs. Libero Meryl Bender also added 14 digs on the evening.
The Bobcats will welcome Eastern Michigan to the Convocation Center tomorrow evening. Eastern Michigan (21-6, 8-2 MAC) will be the last MAC West team the Bobcats will face before the conference tournament.
They've (Eastern Michigan) have been really good at finding little ways to win
Theis said. Not a lot of flash there
but they win ball games and we're going to have to fight to win.
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