After the Bobcats dropped both their home MAC games this weekend, it’s easy to look at the negatives, but one of the big positives is Ohio’s junior star opposite hitter Torre Kildow.
Going into this weekend, it was apparent that if Ohio was going to break its extended losing streak, someone was going to have to step up, and that’s exactly what Kildow did.
She made her presence known early on Friday against Akron, where she had six kills and one block, to help take Akron to extra points, before eventually falling to the Zips in a big game with MAC implications.
She then added five more kills in the second set and upgraded her hitting percentage tremendously to help take down the Zips in the second set. She killed four balls in the third set and three more in the fourth set to end her stellar day with 18 kills.
Her 18 kills tied her with freshman Bailey Blaire for the most on the team. Despite the loss, Kildow put on a very impressive performance to push Akron all the way to the edge.
After the game, Ohio head coach Kenzie Brinkman was asked how she felt about Kildow’s performance.
“Torre works her butt off,” Brinkman said. “In the past two years, she hasn’t seen the floor much because of injury, and so I think she’s really done a phenomenal job at staying healthy, being a really good leader and taking everything to heart.”
Going into the second game, Kildow made it clear very early that she wasn’t slowing down. She had a team-leading four kills in the first set and a fantastic hitting percentage of .375. This great first set performance helped The Bobcats trample Buffalo to take an early 1-0 lead.
She wasn’t done yet, though, as Kildow had another three kills in the second set and kept a very consistent hitting percentage. She would add three more kills in the third set, and another in the fourth to end with 11 kills on the day.
She ended the weekend with a team-leading 29 kills to help her team stay very close to Akron and Buffalo. Another stat that is very overlooked is Kildow's total attempts. She had a season high of 46 total attempts versus Akron, and then another 30 against Buffalo to end the weekend with a team high of 76 total attempts.
After the game against the Bulls, Brinkman also gave a lot of praise to Kildow for her “wide shot selection range” and said that Kildow is very coachable, which has helped her grow as a player and makes her a good leader.
For a team that has been struggling, Kildow proved to be a real bright spot over the weekend for the Bobcats. If she can build off her two big MAC performances, she could be a real factor in helping turn the season around. Kildow is primed to have a terrific rest of the season and be the leader that Ohio volleyball needs her to be.
