Inconsistency haunted the Bobcats early this weekend.
In a home match that decided Mid-American Conference East Division superiority, the Bobcats' play was up and down, and Akron pulled off the upset, 3-2. It was the first time the Zips beat the Bobcats since 2003.
I don't think we deserved to win today
coach Ryan Theis said. I think Akron deserved to win. They played terrific.
The Bobcats (11-6, 3-1 MAC) committed errors galore during the match, including 32 attacking errors and 14 service errors. Akron (12-4, 4-0 MAC), meanwhile, erred only 22 times on offense.
Despite all the errors, the Bobcats managed to come within one point of winning the match, but freshman Lauren Seyller, who had recorded two aces in nine sets played so far this season, put too much on the serve and the chance was wasted.
Seeing that point squandered away was really not that different from seeing our opportunities in the first set and in the fourth set Theis said. That was no different from what we had been doing the whole night.
At times, Akron dug almost everything Ohio threw at it, starting right from the first point. The Zips stopped three attacks before Mandy Nichols hit it out. The Bobcats then committed three attacking errors in their next three attacks.
It's frustrating sometimes senior setter Michelle Jantsch said. They (were) digging it
but they weren't coming back with pace. So
we definitely need to keep spreading (the offense) out and attacking them.
Once you get more practice with them, you end up winning more and more (long rallies).
Things couldn't have been more different for Ohio against Buffalo.
The Bobcats swept the Bulls in straight sets
25-14
25-19 and 25-16. Ohio dominated Buffalo in a match that lasted one hour
13 minutes.
One area the team improved in was team blocking. Ohio blocked 11 in three sets
one less than it did the night before in five.
We played a lot better tonight, outside hitter Sue Jacobi said. We played like ourselves tonight. Last night just wasn't going our way, and you learn from that.
Theis said he was looking for the team to gain something from Friday's defeat.
I told the team I'm okay with losing if we learn from it, Theis said. We know our goal is to play our best volleyball at the end of the season, and we need to be more consistent throughout. We were. We put pressure on them constantly and that was a nice effort by us. I thought the players did a good job coming out focused.",",2,Sports,Matt Wagner,",",",",",","
32494,2010-10-03 22:57:00,Field Hockey: Ohio drops two close contests during road trip to Michigan,The few inches the Bobcats' last shot missed by knocked them down several inches in the Mid-American Conference standings.,The few inches the Bobcats' last shot missed by knocked them down several inches in the Mid-American Conference standings.
The Bobcats (6-7
2-1 MAC) lost 2-1 to Central Michigan Saturday in penalty strokes
ruining their perfect record in the MAC and dropping them to third in the league.
We're talking millimeters here, said coach Neil Macmillan. We're not talking a long way. Unfortunately, we didn't force their keeper to make a save.
As the game went to penalty strokes
