Ohio competed in its long-awaited first two home matches of the season Friday, winning both in The Convo to turn a three-game losing streak into a fresh two-game win streak. The Bobcats defeated Morgan State University Friday morning before sweeping the University of North Carolina Asheville, improving their season record to 6-4.
The first leg of the Bobcats’ double-header came Friday morning against the Morgan State Bears, winning 3-1. The Bobcats started slowly, dropping the first set in extra points, 27-25.
“The main adjustment was not to make ten hitting errors in a set. For us, it was just ‘Let’s limit our errors and make them play volleyball,'” Head Coach Kenzie Brinkman said when asked about her message to the team ahead of set two.
That speech allowed Ohio to flip the switch for the rest of the match, as it won three straight sets, 25-19, 25-20 and 25-19. A major storyline Brinkman also noted as part of the game plan was shutting down Morgan State’s fearsome hitters, Jada Williams and Michaela Panekova.
Those two entered the match with 88 and 86 kills on the season, respectively, and Ohio limited them to just six each on Friday. That was in large part due to Rose Mahin’s and Torre Kildow’s presence above the net.
While their efforts did not register in the form of blocks in the box score, Mahin finished with 14 kills, and Kildow added 12, while also providing resistance on Morgan State’s hitters and leading the Bobcats to double the Bears in total kills, 66-33. Those two credited the game plan and their serves for contributing to that containment.
“We do really good at game planning, we watch film all the time, and that got us super prepared,” Kildow said.
“We had aggressive serves that got them out of system and made them unable to play their typical game and limited their kills,” said Mahin.
Ohio kept the momentum rolling in its second matchup of the day against UNC Asheville, taking the first set 25-19. Despite the Bulldogs' superb 11-2 record, the Bobcats came out fearlessly swinging. They laid down 15 kills in the set and combated the Bulldogs' attack well with 19 digs as a unit. Set two was very similar, as the Bobcats took a 25-20 win to take a commanding 2-0 match lead.
The energy from the first two sets was maintained in the third set, and Ohio finished off UNC Asheville with a sweep, taking set three 25-20. It must have been refreshing for Coach Brinkman to see the Bobcats start stronger in this match than in their previous match against Morgan State, and finishing with a sweep was the perfect cherry on top.
“It feels great to be home and finally play, and win, in front of our home crowd,” said Bailey Blair, sophomore opposite hitter, postgame.
“Yeah, to start the season off with two wins at home is just a good note going into conference play,” said Emily Waddell, senior middle blocker.
Player Spotlight
Kildow shined in the Bobcats’ pair of home-opening matches. After missing both matches at Penn State last weekend, she didn’t skip a beat on Friday, recording 12 kills against Morgan State and ten against UNC Asheville.
She was a major contributor to Ohio’s success in its first home stand of the season. Kildow credited her setters postgame, allowing her to record double-digit kills in both matches.
“Our setters are really good at always giving us good balls, and that allows us to finish,” she said.
Rest-of-Weekend Outlook
“I told the team after these wins today that they’re great wins, but tonight is not a celebration night for us, it’s still business. After our game at 2 p.m. tomorrow, we can celebrate a little bit, but we’ll have to prepare just as much as we did for these two, if not more,” said Coach Brinkman after Friday’s pair of wins.
Ohio has snapped its three-game losing streak and now has a chance tomorrow afternoon to turn that into a three-game winning streak to take on Mercyhurst University at The Convo.
