Ohio’s five-game winning streak ended this weekend in Muncie, Indiana, as it took on Ball State on Friday and Saturday, ending the weekend with one win and one loss.
Going into Friday's game, the Bobcats were one of the hottest teams in the Mid-American Conference with a five-game winning streak and were rapidly rising in the MAC rankings. Unfortunately, the only team in the MAC that was hotter than Ohio was Ball State. The Cardinals came into Friday’s game on a nine-game winning streak, which put their MAC record at an impressive 9-0.
Ohio started the game with one of its most dominant sets of the season, beating Ball State 25-12. There wasn’t one standout player for Ohio’s first set, but rather the whole team. There were six Bobcats that recorded a kill in set one, including five of them with multiple. They also heavily limited errors in set one with only a team total of two, and an impressive team hitting percentage of .367%.
The Bobcats were looking red hot going into the second set. They were looking to keep up their performance, and keeping up their performance, they did. While not as dominant as set one, set two was still another dominant win for the Bobcats as they took the set 25-19.
The team effort was even more dominant in this set, with eight players recording a kill. Junior opposite hitter Torre Kildow had a great second set with a team-leading five kills, followed by freshman outside hitter Bailey Blair with four.
Ohio was up 2-0 and looking for the sweep heading into set three. Unfortunately for Ohio, the tide turned. It was Ball State's turn for a dominant set as they took set three 25-16. The Bobcats had their fewest number of kills so far in the game with only 11, and their highest number of errors with seven.
Ohio’s hitting percentage was also bad, sitting at .098%. Ball State didn’t have a very dominant set statistically because they didn’t have to; Ohio just had a very rough set.
Ball State had the momentum going into set four, but Ohio only needed one more win. In the closest set of the day, Ball State would take set four 25-20. Both teams were playing great, with only a combined nine errors. Ohio had its second-most kills of the day, but Ball State was able to bring home the set four win with their most kills of the day.
Ball State was headed into set five with all of the momentum, and it didn’t take much. The Cardinals would dominate the Bobcats in the fifth set 15-9 to steal the win right out of the Bobcats' hands with the reverse sweep.
Going into their matchup on Saturday, it was clear that Ohio was fueled because of their heartbreaking loss the day prior. Our Bobcats' anger was on full display as they made the #1 team in the MAC, which was on a 10-game winning streak, look like a high school team. Ohio swept Ball State on Saturday, regaining some of the momentum it had heading into the weekend.
This sweep included Ohio having 20 kills in two of the three sets, a crazy number even for a team that has been so efficient recently. After Ball State's comeback the day before, Ohio made sure Ball State had no chance.
Ohio is back in The Convo this Tuesday to try and keep its tournament hopes alive against Kent State, whom they have already beaten on the road.
