Ohio (10-11, 5-4 Mid-American Conference) hosted Bowling Green (8-11, 2-6 Mid-American Conference) with the hopes of sweeping the season series. Ohio’s hopes would be dashed as Bowling Green would triumph in four sets.
Ohio dropped the first set by a score of 25-18. Ohio showed grit and resilience as Bowling Green struggled to pull away until late in the set. Kam Hunt and Anna Kharchynska led the way in the absence of Caitlin O’Farrell, each recording 4 kills. Attacking errors are what undid the Bobcats late in the set as the Falcons, led by an impressive first set from Lauryn Hovey, were able to seal a victory with a block against Kharchynska.
Ohio, undeterred by the previous results, stormed out to a quick 4-0 lead. Its lead would quickly be diminished as Bowling Green would bombard Ohio with a couple of service aces that allowed it to claw back and eventually take a 21-17 lead. The Bobcats didn’t roll over as Kharchynska again had an impressive 4 kills throughout the set. Although she and Ohio kept the set competitive, it wasn’t enough as Bowling Green once again prevailed with a score of 25-23.
The Bobcats avoided the sweep by winning the third set 25-17. The Bobcats showed their dominance as they ran away with the third set by taking a commanding 21-14 lead. Caroline Clippard and Makenna Schafer asserted themselves with timely kills that helped propel Ohio to a score of 24-17 and a powerful block from Hunt and Elizabeth Hoerlein sealed the deal for Ohio.
The Bobcats seemed to miss O’Farrell in set four as they committed error after error in the fourth set which caused them to trail 11-3 early. Ohio managed to put together a few nice scoring runs led by Clippard and Hunt to bring the score within four at 15-11. That was the closest Ohio came to winning the set as the team struggled to slow down Lauryn Hovey who recorded another 6 kills in the fourth set. Ohio couldn’t overcome the deficit it faced in set four and fell 25-13.
“We didn’t have Caitlin today but, I don’t think we played very well,” Head Coach Geoff Carlston said. “We have to be able to find consistency to win back-to-back games.”
Carlston also spoke on how important it is for players to step up.
“I thought we had some good individual efforts but as a team, we didn’t play nearly as well as we did yesterday but we have the talent to win,” Carlston said.
