Oct. 20, 2006

Box Score

ATHENS, Ohio - The No. 21 Ohio volleyball team won its tenth straight match defeating Western Michigan, 3-1 (30-19, 30-16, 23-30, 30-28) on Friday night. With the win, Ohio improves 17-3, 9-0 in the MAC and Western Michigan drops 13-10, 3-6 in the MAC.

Ellen Herman (Toledo, Ohio) led all players with a match-high 18 kills for Ohio. Melissa Griffin (Whitehall, Mich.) tallied 16 kills and six blocks. Amanda Andersen (Lino Lakes, Minn.) chipped in 15 kills while Stephanie Blackburn (Cincinnati, Ohio) recorded her tenth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 20 digs. Jane Sytsma (Madison, Wis.) had six kills and added five blocks.

Savanah Parra (Temecula, Calif.) totaled 40 assists and Michaele Blackburn (Cincinnati, Ohio) paced Ohio's defense with 24 digs. Janice Matacic (Liberty Township, Ohio) had 12 digs and Molly Mangan added 10 digs.

Western Michigan was led by Michelle Moore and Kathryn Babcock with 15 kills apiece. Katie Eberling added 12 kills and Caitlin Strimel led the Broncos' defense with 24 digs.

Ohio has won 43 consecutive home matches dating back to the 2002 season and 41 regular season conference matches in a row.

Ohio never trailed in game one after opening the frame with a 10-4 lead. The Bobcats outhit Western Michigan .486 to .053 and won the game 30-19. The second game was close throughout with neither team holding a lead greater than four. Ohio pulled out to their biggest lead of the night at 20-10 and never looked back to win game two, 30-16.

Western Michigan took the first lead in the third game, 1-0. Both teams traded points throughout for a total of eleven ties. Finally the Broncos took the lead for good at 20-19 en route to a 30-23 win of game three forcing a fourth game.

Griffin and Herman each had six kills in game four for Ohio. Western Michigan opened the game on a 2-0 run and the teams went back and forth tying the game ten times. The last tie was at 28-28 and the Bobcats used a 2-0 run; including a kill by Griffin, to win the game 30-28.

The Bobcats will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 21 in a home match against Northern Illinois at 5:30 p.m. The match will be webstreamed at http://streaming.cns.ohiou.edu/ohiobobcats/.