After claiming two victories, sweeping the weekly Mid-American Conference awards and jumping up two spots in the polls, Ohio will hit the road for another weekend of MAC play.
No. 18 Ohio (14-2, 4-0 MAC) was victorious in its two home matches against Miami and Bowling Green last weekend, as the Bobcats received acknowledgement for their performances.
Junior outside hitter Kelly Lamberti and graduate student middle blocker Alexis Pinson were named the MAC East Division’s offensive and defensive players of the week, respectively.
For the third consecutive week, the squad also jumped two spots in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll to No. 18 in the nation, as they received 415 points compared to just 263 last week.
Today, the Bobcats will travel north to Kent State to take the court with the Golden Flashes at 7 p.m. This is the team’s first mid-week match, but because it’s away, Ohio’s road-trip this weekend is much different than previous ones.
“The tricky part about this road trip every year is the duration,” coach Ryan Theis said. “We travel the day of (the match); we go in the morning and try to get acclimated quickly, because we don’t want to be on the road for four straight days and then play a Saturday night match.”
Kent State (8-9, 2-2 MAC) is coming off of a weekend at home in which it split a pair of matches. The Golden Flashes played the same teams that the Bobcats defeated in The Convo but in opposite order.
After winning the first set against Bowling Green on Friday, Kent State dropped the next three sets and lost its second match in conference play. But Saturday, Kent State defeated Miami in a straight-set sweep.
Ohio is 43-22 against Kent State all-time, including straight-set sweeps by the Bobcats during their two matchups last season.
After continuing their success in MAC play the past two weekends, the Bobcats are trying to stay as focused as possible as the season gets shorter.
“We are just trying to keep one game at a time,” sophomore setter Abby Gilleland said. “We know what our long-term goal is, but we are doing a really good job staying focused for each game. We’re doing a good job and we hope it continues.”
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