When Ohio (12-6, 4-0) visits Akron’s James A. Rhodes Arena — known as the JAR — tonight, it will attempt to preserve its unblemished conference record.
Akron holds a paltry 3-14 record coupled with a 10-game losing streak, and it would be easy for anyone to look past the Zips, but Ohio coach Ryan Theis said he is not looking past this match.
“They hit .335 against (Bowling Green), which is higher than we hit against them,” Theis said. “Certainly, they’re going to present some challenges. We don’t go anywhere and expect to win without earning it.”
Theis said another thing to keep in mind is that Akron is down to its third setter. The backup setter has a wrist issue and is playing defensive specialist, and the starting setter dislocated her shoulder.
He added that six of the 10 losses were because of the troubles the Zips have had at the setter position and if his team had similar issues, it would be in a similar situation.
The Bobcats present challenges to opposing offenses, and Akron head coach Ron Arenz recognized that the Bobcats are very good at blocking and said to be successful, the Zips will have to be creative on offense.
“We aren’t going over them. They have some of the best blockers in the nation,” Arenz said. “We are going to try and create situations where we aren’t going against three blockers — just two or one.”
Last year, Akron and Ohio both took sets on the opponents’ home floor and Arenz said his team will need to be at its best against the Bobcats.
“We will have to play our best ball,” Arenz said. “We were fortunate enough to take a match from them last year. (Theis) and his staff won at our place. Taking a set is going to be very difficult.”
Redshirt sophomore Lexie Hartnett said there shouldn’t be any reason for the Bobcats to drop a set and lose their untarnished record.
“I’d say business as usual,” Hartnett said. “We still have to bring our game and do everything that we’ve been doing thus far.”
She added that Akron gets the ball back over the net quickly with some big hitters, but they do not run schemes that are out of the ordinary.
nr225008@ohiou.edu
