Nov. 18, 2005
Box Score
TOLEDO, Ohio - The Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals are in the books with top-seeded Ohio advancing behind a 3-1 (30-28, 30-11, 27-30, 32-30) defeat of eighth-seeded Northern Illinois.
The three-pronged attack of Melissa Griffin (Whitehall, Mich.), Julia Winkfield (Newark, Ohio) and Stephanie Blackburn (Cincinnati, Ohio) led the offensive attack with 14 kills each. Holly Schetzsle (Pataskala, Ohio) also had a strong match with 13 kills.
Savanah Parra (Temecula, Calif.) played a solid all-around match for the Bobcats. She set the Ohio attack to the tune of 60 assists, dug 15 balls, dropped in three aces and tallied a career-best six kills.
Michaele Blackburn (Cincinnati, Ohio) led the back row with 21 digs, her third straight match with 20-plus digs, setting a new-career high for digs in a season with 482. Stephanie Blackburn added 12 digs. Schetzsle led the defense up front with a career-high five blocks.
Ohio hit .318 for the match, including clips of .633 and .463 in the second and fourth games, respectively. The Bobcat defense held the Huskies to a .201 hitting percentage.
The Bobcats used two Huskie service errors to start the match in gaining an early 3-1 edge. Ohio pushed the lead to 7-3 following a Winkfield kill but Northern Illinois countered with a 4-0 run to even the score.
The match went back and forth with a Griffin kill squaring the game at 19. The Huskies recorded aces as part of a 5-0 run that gave them a 24-19 advantage. And then the Bobcats flipped the switch.
Ohio finished the game with an 11-4 run highlighted by four Winkfield kills. Parra finished off the frame with an ace to give the Bobcats a 30-28 game one win.
The Bobcats extended their 11-4 run to end the opening frame to 41-15 with the 30-11 thrashing of Northern Illinois in the second game. Ohio posted 19 kills without an error in the frame while holding the Huskies to a .059 hitting percentage.
After a brief lapse in the third game, the Bobcats took the highly competitive fourth frame to take the match. Neither team held an advantage greater than two points through the first half of the match until Ohio ran off three straight points to gain a 17-13 lead. Northern Illinois clawed back to tie the game at 19 with neither team holding an edge greater than two for the remainder of the match.
Griffin gave Ohio a 29-27 lead and two match points but the Huskies were able to even the match at 29. Schetzsle gave the Bobcats a 30-29 lead but Northern Illinois evened the match at 30. Winkfield gave Ohio a 31-30 lead with senior co-captains Winkfield and Schetzsle teaming up for a block on the final point to give the Bobcats the 32-30 game four victory.
Ohio advances to play fifth-seeded Toledo in the semifinals tomorrow. The Rockets upset fourth-seeded Western Michigan to move on. In other action, second-seeded Eastern Michigan swept Bowling Green and third-seeded Ball State knocked off Miami in three games.
The Bobcats' match is slated to begin tomorrow at 7 p.m.
