Having finished each of the past four seasons ranked first in blocks in the Mid-American Conference, it is no surprise the Bobcats once again sit atop the category at the midway point this year.
After finishing the 2010 campaign ranked first in the NCAA in blocks, Ohio has made rejections at the net its defensive calling card. However, the team cannot be reliant on generating blocks as its primary method to stop opposing attackers from scoring.
Blocking is a reactionary skill based on the opponent’s game plan to challenge the Bobcat defense. So, if the opposing team is not challenging, Ohio has to find other means to prevent that team from scoring points.
“We want to be a good defensive team, but we can’t count on blocking,” said Ohio coach Ryan Theis. “We want to capitalize on our opponent’s mistakes, but if they aren’t challenging us we might only get one or two a game, rather than eight or nine if they are at the net with us.”
Theis added that the team has a formula it tries to execute each match. The key is to record a combined 19 blocks, aces and kills to win, because that’s what he has found is the normal amount needed to win close matches.
Theis has been at the helm of the team since 2008 and each year his teams have finished first in the MAC in blocks, but his recently-departed assistant Kyle Weindel, who is now the head coach at Montana State, had been responsible for instructing rejections.
Despite Weindel leaving the program, Ohio has not missed a beat refuting the opposition at the net; the team already has a MAC-high average of 2.66 blocks per set, having recording 127.5 thus far.
“It’s tough to discuss, because Kyle was great,” Theis said. “But I was the one who allowed him to coach the style that I wanted. (Blocking) is not something that has really changed without him coaching with us this year.”
The Bobcats are currently ranked 30th in the NCAA in blocking, largely because of play of middle blockers sophomore Serena Warner and redshirt junior Lexie Hartnett.
“Blocking is a huge part of my game plan. It’s basically my job,” Warner said. “I’ve got so much better since I came here, but it’s largely due to coaching. Before, my ability was to just jump, and now it’s to block.”
She also said that since it is her job to block, she gets frustrated when the opposition is hitting around her, but as long as the rest of the team is digging out the hits, she plays fine.
Warner is second in the MAC in blocks with an average of 1.27 blocks per set, which is just two hundredths behind Buffalo’s Akeila Lain for first place. Warner has recorded one solo block, as well as 60 block assists, which ranks her 52nd in the NCAA, individually.
Hartnett possesses an average of 0.93 blocks per set is second on the team, with 42 blocks, while sophomore outside hitters Chelsea Bilger and Kelly Lamberti are tied for third with 31.
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