Oct. 2, 2009
Final Stats
AKRON, Ohio - In three Mid-American Conference matches the Bobcats have yet to lose a set. Ohio (11-4, 3-0) completed its third consecutive sweep at Akron Friday, posting set scores of 25-18, 25-21 and 25-21.
The first set saw a balanced Bobcat offensive attack, with Ellen Herman, Katie Post and Meghan Simons each accumulating three kills. Sue Jacobi and Michelle Jantsch were not far behind, each racking up two. Sarah Petrulis had three digs to pace the `Cats in this first frame.
The second set saw the Zips firing on all cylinders at the start. They quickly jumped out to a 4-1 lead, which led to a see-saw affair for the entire set. The Bobcats were able to grab control of the second at the 18-18 mark, when kills by Post (Streamwood, Ill.) and Herman (Toledo, Oh.) put the `Cats in the lead for good. At 23-21, back-to-back kills by Herman put the second set on ice and sent Ohio to the locker room with another 2-0 lead.
Akron would not go down without a fight, and fight is a great word for what they did in the third set. Every time it appeared that the `Cats were just a point or two from pulling away, the Zips wouldn't allow it. Ohio jumped to a 21-17 lead courtesy of good defense and a few Akron attacking errors, but the Zips were able to pull within one at 21-20. Ohio then won four of the next five points, capping off the set and match with a Herman kill.
"Akron did a nice job hanging around," said head coach Ryan Theis. "They did a nice job of keeping pace with us...siding out. Eventually we were able to get some pressure on them and take over. Sets two and three were both very close up until the end."
Herman's 16 kills on the night put her career total up to 1,674, just five shy of setting a new school record. Her 16 kills came on 33 attacks and were accompanied by only five errors, netting her a .333 hitting percentage.
Senior Meghan Simons (Lancaster, Oh.) played a very solid match, scoring seven kills on 14 attacks with zero errors. She hit for .500 in her third consecutive match.
Jantsch (Mission Hills, Ks.) played a very consistent match for the visiting Bobcats, tallying 37 assists on the night.
"We left some blocks and digs out there and didn't serve as aggressively as we'd like to, but our offense continued to side out and get us through the match," said Theis.
The Bobcats now travel to Buffalo, N.Y., to face the Bulls (11-5, 2-1) on Saturday. Game time is set for 7 pm.
