Sept. 6, 2009
MURFREESBORO, Tenn.-The Ohio volleyball squad swept Middle Tennessee State Sunday afternoon at the Blue Raider Bash by scores of 25-17, 25-16 and 25-22. The Bobcats improved to 5-1 overall, while MTSU dropped to 5-2.
Ellen Herman (Toledo, Ohio) led Ohio with 11 kills, while hitting .381. Meghan Simons (Lancaster, Ohio) and Sue Jacobi (Louisville, Ky.) had nine and eight kills, respectively, while Michelle Jantsch (Mission Hills, Ks.) had seven kills. All hit .429 or higher. Meryl Bender (Yorktown, Ind.) led the Bobcats with five digs and Jane Sytsma (Madison, Wisc.) had six block assists. Jantsch also notched 31 assists. Sarah Petrulis (Westlake, Ohio) was also Ohio’s most aggressive server, boasting five aces.
MTSU was powered by Izabela Kozon’s nine kills. Halie Vannoy had seven digs, while Brynne Henderson posted five of her own. Leslie Clark had 16 assists.
“Our middles played fantastic, leading us to a very efficient performance both offensively and defensively,†said Ohio head coach Ryan Theis. “We passed extremely well, which is a credit to our defensive specialists. It allowed us to side out at almost 70 percent for the match.â€
“Michelle (Jantsch) did a great job getting our hitters good looks today, and had a great game offensively herself. We just executed well offensively all day.â€
The score was even at 8-8 in set one, before Ohio ran off 12 of the match’s next 15 points to take a commanding lead. The Bobcats wrapped up the game on a Jantsch kill.
Ohio also won seven of set two’s last eight points, punctuated by two blocks and a Jacobi kill for the Bobcats’ last three points.
Ohio got out to an early 12-5 lead in game three, powered by a pair of Jacobi kills and Petrulis aces. MTSU never got closer than two points the rest of the way, and the Bobcats finished off the hosts with a Herman kill.
Sytsma, Simons and Jacobi were all named to the All-Tournament team.
The Bobcats will back in action Friday at 7 p.m. when they host the Hampton Inn Invitational.
