Ohio travels 200 miles north to take on the 7-8 Kent State Golden Flashes on Tuesday. This is Ohio’s fifth MAC game of the season as it's still trying to pick up its first conference win and break its now 11 game losing streak. The Golden Flashes on the other hand, are trying to add on to their young winning streak of two.
“We need to fire on all cylinders of the game, offensively and defensively,” Ohio head coach Kenzie Brinkman said when asked what it would take to break this losing streak.
Kent State hasn’t played many home games this season, but when it has, it has been dominant. It is 2-0 at home this season against Buffalo and Akron, and it only seceded one set in those two games. It dominated Buffalo 3-0 and Akron 3-1, which are two teams Ohio struggled against at home this past weekend dropping both games.
The Bobcats haven’t been great on the road with a 1-4 record. Their only road win so far this season came against The University of Chattanooga on Sept. 5 which was also Ohio’s last win.
Kent State’s senior outside hitter Mackenzie McGuire has had a dominating season for the Golden Flashes. This season, she is averaging over four kills a set for a total of 224 kills and 253 total points. McGuire will look to continue her dominance against Ohio. Last season in two Ohio victories, she had 29 kills to lead Kent in both matches.
Not only has she been dominant on the offensive side she’s also been dominant on the defensive side with 120 digs. That number puts her second on her team in digs and is impressively high for an outside hitter. She also has 23 blocks this season as well.
If the Bobcats are going to slow down McGuire and walk out of Kent with the win, their front-line defense is going to have to be there which they’ve struggled with recently. Specifically looking at this weekend, Ohio allowed an offensive legacy game from Akron’s Delaney Gash with 24 kills and Buffalo’s Emerson Matthews with 25.
These defensive struggles were a big reason they dropped both games this weekend. Looking positive, Ohio’s Emily Waddell, Bailey Blaire and Kendall White have seen defensive success this season with a combined 89 blocks on the year.
Offensively, Ohio’s superstars have flourished recently. Specifically, Gentry Brown and Torre Kildow with a combined 221 kills, and outside hitter Bailey Blaire having an outstanding freshman year with a whopping 170 kills.
Going into this matchup, the Bobcats look for success to be supplied from junior outside hitter Torre Kildow who has been absolutely dominant this season and is coming off a stellar weekend. She has also been called a “great leader” by Brinkman.
