The Ohio Bobcats volleyball team opened up Mid-American Conference play this weekend with a pair of convincing victories, defeating the Bowling Green State Falcons Friday night and archrival Miami Redhawks on Saturday. There didn’t seem to be any doubt of the final outcome in either match, as a poised and confident Bobcats team jumped out to big leads early in both matches at the Convocation Center.
The Bobcats swept the Falcons with game scores of 25-17, 25-19, and 28-26.
Ohio jumped out to an early 13-5 lead in the first game and never looked back. They won the game in dominating fashion, staving off a late Bowling Green rally.
Things became a little more competitive in the second game, as Bowling Green twice pulled within one point. Senior Katie Post played a big role in holding off the Falcons. After a few long volleys, Post’s spike late in the game swung the momentum back in Ohio’s favor. Through the first two games, the Bobcats did not relinquish the lead once.
The third game went back-and-forth, as Bowling Green took their first lead of the match at 3-2. The Bobcats went down 11-6 until rallying and finally regaining the lead at 18-17. Post again contributed timely plays for the Bobcats. Her block tied the game at 21, and a few plays later her spike tied it at 23.
Post finished with nine kills and a hitting percentage of .571. Sophomore Mollie Geske was the only Bobcat in double figures for digs with 13. Ohio’s hitting percentage as a team was .235 compared to .098 for Bowling Green.
On Saturday night, an impressive crowd of 1608 fans watched Ohio sweep Miami with game scores of 25-14, 25-20, and 25-16. The match followed a very similar trend to the one Friday against Bowling Green: a strong start followed by a much closer second game. This time however, the Bobcats also finished strong.
Ohio again dominated the first game against Miami. Freshman Kelly Lamberti, Post, and reshirt sophomore Lexie Hartnett were dominant on the front line in the game, and the Bobcats took the game on a block from Post.
Things got much closer in the second game as the volleys got much longer and more intense, until Lamberti finally finished it off with back-to-back kills.
Emotions were flying high in the third game, as Miami received three total point penalties and spotted Ohio a 2-0 lead. The Redhawks rallied to tie it at 5-5, but Ohio quickly responded to go up 10-5 and never looked back en route to victory.
Lamberti finished with a game-high 18 kills and Harst added 35 assists, giving her 67 on the weekend. The Bobcats again dominated hitting percentage, hitting .354 to Miami’s .115. Ohio’s strong front line registered 24.5 total team blocks over both matches.
Ohio won its fourth in a row to improve to 10-6 on the season while Bowling Green fell to 12-1 and Miami to 11-6.
