After finishing the past two weekends with splits, Ohio will hit the road to face a pair of Mid-American Conference West opponents.
Ohio (16-4, 6-2 MAC) fell to Ball State last Saturday and junior outside hitter Kelly Lamberti suffered an ankle injury during the loss, which will test the Bobcats’ depth if she isn’t able to play this weekend.
“Our message as a team is next man up, we have a lot of good players,” coach Ryan Theis said. “If we don’t have Kelly this weekend, if we can win it will show how (deep we are).”
The squad will travel to face Northern Illinois on Friday before taking the floor against Western Michigan on Saturday. This road trip has been a strong test for the Bobcats, as Theis said it’s one of the toughest ones that they make.
“We have not won both of these matches together on a trip since I’ve been here,” Theis said. “This will be our third time making this trip and we’ve never gone 2-0.”
Northern Illinois (12-10, 4-4 MAC) knocked Ohio out of the MAC Tournament last season in the semifinals, but the Huskies have struggled on the road this season after dropping four of their past five road matches.
The Huskies are led by two preseason all-MAC selections with junior outside hitter Mackenzie Roddy and senior middle blocker Sarah Angelos. Roddy is averaging 3.33 kills per set, which is the seventh-best in the MAC.
Western Michigan (12-9, 5-3 MAC) won the MAC West regular season title last year but sits two games back of this year’s leader, Ball State, despite winning its past two matches in straight-sets against Akron and Buffalo on the road.
The Broncos are led by sophomore middle blocker Stephenee Yancy, who was named the 2012 MAC Freshman of the Year, and junior setter Lexie Pawlik, who leads the MAC with 11.61 assists per set in conference play.
Theis said that the home court advantage is a big part of what makes both of these matches, as Western Michigan has only dropped two conference matches at home in since 2008.
“We know it’s a tough road trip, and we want to come away from it with two wins,” sophomore setter Abby Gilleland said. “We know how big of an advantage it is to finish a road weekend with two wins. Right now we’re just taking it one game at a time.”
After losing one match each of the past two weekends, the Bobcats will look to forget the past and win a pair of road matches this weekend.
“We just need to work as a team to try and bring ourselves back together,” sophomore libero Meredith Ashy said. “We need to move forward, move past last weekend and win the next two games.”
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UP NEXT:
Friday 8 p.m. at Northern Illinois
Saturday
7 p.m. at Western Michigan
