Ohio (11-8, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) lost both of its games against Ball State (14-5, 5-3 MAC) this weekend. Both losses were hard, as Ohio was unable to manage a single set win, but Ohio was close in the second game, with two out of the three sets being within three scores or less. Both teams came off shaky weekends prior, but Ball State made the quicker recovery, exploding with offensive firepower at The Convo.
The first game was a struggle for the Bobcats. They were unable to counter what Ball State threw at them, and the result of that was the closest score being 25-18. Ball State had a near .300 hitting percentage, while Ohio could not even hit the .100 mark. That was the biggest separation between the teams, and it shined throughout the game.
“We were a very stagnant team now,” Ohio Head Coach Kenzie Brinkman said. “It's easy to play defense when you’re a one-dimensional team, and when you’re passing bad, we can always set our outside so it's really easy to block in.”
Ball State went up in the first set with three points. This was the boost that Ball State needed to flow for the rest of the set, as it only trailed Ohio at one point in the game, with the score at 10-9 during that stint. Otherwise, it was a struggle for Ohio to maintain any sort of momentum after a score. Ball State easily strung together points, resulting in the final score of the first set at 25-18.
Ball State turned it up a notch after the first set and continued to pressure the Bobcats on offense and defense. This time, Ohio jumped to a 2-0 lead, but it did not last long as Ball State quickly stepped in and scored four unanswered points. In similar fashion to the first set, Ohio was unable to take another lead after the 2-0 lead and could not string together streaks of points easily. That resulted in another clean Ball State set victory with a score of 25-17.
In the final set of the first game, Ball State opened with a six-point streak. This set the tone for the set, as Ball State scored in every way imaginable. The team was an unstoppable force, and Ohio could not block any of it. Ball State’s dominance led to a 25-15 set, a double-digit win that was an exclamation mark for the team.
“I don’t think there was a single person that played well,” Brinkman said. “They had a lot of people that played well for them. The best part about the MAC is that we get to play them again tomorrow and hope for a different outcome.”
After a poor third set in the first game, the Bobcats came back to The Convo on Saturday, regrouped and rested to face Ball State once again. This time, Ohio was able to better adapt to the challenges Ball State threw, but it still was not enough as the Bobcats could not snatch a single set away from Ball State. The hitting percentage difference was once again a huge factor to note, as though Ohio improved from last game, clocking in with a number of .128. Ball State more than doubled that with a .301 hitting percentage.
Continuing the trend, Ball State opened up the set with a flurry of four points. But this time, Ohio was able to counter and crawl back consistently, trailing Ball State for the majority of the first set. The Bobcats finally managed to catch up to Ball State, and each team sat at 16 points. Ohio took the lead with a score of 18-16 but could not hold onto it after some strong plays by Ball State. The Bobcats lost the set with a score of 25-22.
The second set was the definition of a back-and-forth game, with each team almost taking turns scoring points. The largest lead of this game was when Ball State held a 13-9 lead over Ohio, but that did not deter the Bobcats as they eventually evened the score at 21-21. However, Ball State had other plans, as it scored four points compared to Ohio’s two in the final plays of the game to take the 2-0 set lead.
This put Ohio’s back against a wall, as it found itself once again in a scenario to get swept. Unfortunately, that would be the exact scenario that happened for the Bobcats, with a repeated score from last game’s third set, 25-15. Ohio and Ball State once again got into a dogfight with the score tied at 6-6. However, Ball State had other plans and quickly put up multiple different scoring streaks to pull away.
The first volley of points only pushed away Ohio by a little bit, but the Bobcats' counterattacks were not useful at all, with the next barrage sealing the fate of the set and the game. By the time Ball State scored the final points of the game, Ohio only managed to put up 15 points in the elimination set, having a negative hitting percentage of -.067 in the set. This was a stark contrast to the previous two sets where the Bobcats hit above .200 in both.
“We did a better job, and I think it's unfortunate because the way we ended was the way we started yesterday,” Coach Brinkman said.
Losing those two games against Ball State put Ohio in a four-game losing streak, dropping them to an even .500 conference record. The team still has time to bounce back after these losses, as there are eight more games to play and the next two being on the road against Toledo.
