Aug. 26, 2006
MADISON, Wis. - In its first-ever appearance on national television, the 15th-ranked Ohio volleyball team (0-2) lost its second match of the AVCA Showcase to host Wisconsin, 3-2 (30-24, 30-32, 32-30, 17-30, 11-15), on Saturday, Aug. 26. The ninth-ranked Badgers (1-1) rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win the final two games and take the victory.
Junior Melissa Griffin (Whitehall, Mich.) led the Bobcat attack with 19 kills on a career-high 51 attempts. Griffin was one of four players in double figures for Ohio, including freshman Ellen Herman (Toledo, Ohio) with 13, sophomore Amanda Andersen (Lino Lakes, Minn.) with 13 and junior Stephanie Blackburn (Cincinnati, Ohio) with 10. It was Herman's second straight game with at least 10 kills to start her career. Senior setter Savanah Parra (Temecula, Calif.) dished out 52 assists.
Blackburn led the defense with a career-best 26 digs, the most for the squad since Michaele Blackburn (Cincinnati, Ohio) had 28 in a five-game victory versus Miami last season. Andersen and Griffin each had four blocks in the match.
Brittney Dolgner led the Badgers with 13 kills, while Jocelyn Wack had 26 digs. Jackie Simpson paced Wisconsin with 48 assists. Taylor Reineke had seven blocks. As a team, the Badgers recorded 18 blocks and outhit the Bobcats, .113 to .078.
After falling behind 10-6 in the decisive fifth game, the Bobcats were able to rally and tie the game at 11-11. Two kills each from Griffin and Andersen along with a service error from the Badgers keyed the 5-1 run. Wisconsin was able to re-group and take the last four points of the game to earn the victory.
Ohio opened the match with a come-from-behind win in game one. The Badgers led 7-2 early on, but the Bobcats came back to take their first lead at 13-12 and would never trail again in the game. Wisconsin took the early lead again in the second game, jumping out to a 6-2 advantage. The Bobcats fought back to take a lead at 13-12, and were able to extend their advantage to as many as three on four occasions, including 28-25. Wisconsin scored the next four points to take a 29-28 lead. Facing game point, Griffin came up with a kill to tie the game. With the score 30-30, Wisconsin tallied the final two points of the game to take the victory and tie the match at 1-1.
Both teams used prolonged scoring runs in another hard-fought third game. The Badgers led 7-5 until Ohio went on a 10-1 run to take a 15-8 advantage. The Bobcats were able to maintain the seven-point advantage at 26-19 when Wisconsin used a 10-3 spurt of its own to tie the score at 29-29. The Bobcats were able to hold on, scoring three of the final four points of the stanza for the 32-30 win. It was the Bobcats' turn to take the early lead in game four. Ohio held a 9-6 advantage before the Badgers turned the momentum and went to take the 30-16 win.
Ohio will return to action on Friday, Sept. 1 with the first of three matches at a tournament hosted by Davidson. The Bobcats will face Davidson on Friday, and Portland and Liberty on Saturday.
