After two consecutive weekend road trips, any team would be grateful to return to its home court. For Ohio, The Convo has been slightly less than dome sweet dome.
Ohio (14-6, 6-0) is 11-3 outside Athens compared to a 3-2 record at home. With Homecoming events this weekend, the Bobcats will try to defend home court.
“This weekend is an opportunity to separate ourselves … two games from anyone else in the league,” coach Ryan Theis said. “We talked about the importance of winning a championship. You’ve got to win your home games.”
Ohio was inconsistent during the early part of the season. But the team is getting regular production from multiple sources, and other teams in the Mid-American Conference have taken notice.
Toledo head coach Greg Smith said the Bobcats have no holes in their game.
“Their personnel has changed, but they are still a really solid team,” he said. “They are strong. It’s going to be a tall order.”
Smith said his team is going to focus only on what it can control and what is happening on its side of the net.
The Rockets (6-12, 1-5) will need to establish their receiving and passing game in order to generate offense.
“That’s the first step. If we pass well, we can get into our offense and tax the defense and create some mismatches,” Smith said.
Ball State head coach Steve Shondell said Ohio is a solid team and called the Bobcats the “pride of the Mid-American Conference.”
The Cardinals boast a 5-1 conference record coming in to the game against Ohio, but Shondell downplayed the significance of the matchup.
“Once you get in to the conference, all the games either count as one win or one loss,” he said. “(We feel) we can defeat anyone or lose to anyone. There is so much parity in the conference.”
Ball State has the edge in experience. The Cardinals start three seniors and three sophomores, and a few of them have started for multiple years.
Theis said Toledo is better than its record indicated and that the goal against the Rockets is to start fast.
“Every game one (of the match) they played in the MAC looks like they’ve played terrific,” Theis said. “We’re going to have to fight them off in game one and try and get ourselves some confidence and take away from their confidence.”
nr225008@ohiou.edu
