Oct. 30, 2010
Final Stats
ATHENS, Ohio - Three Bobcats reached double-digit kills and Ohio earned a weekend sweep with a 3-1 (23-25, 26-24, 25-20, 25-19) win over Eastern Michigan at The Convo this evening. Sue Jacobi had 19 kills, Katie Post had 15 and Mandy Nichols finished with 14.
After hitting .171 and .113 in the first two sets, Ohio hit a sizzling .342 and .424 over the final two sets. Post wound up hitting .545 on 22 attempts, Nichols hit .481 on 27 attempts and Lexie Hartnett had one of her best games as a Bobcat, hitting .333 on 18 attempts and a match-high six blocks.
Michelle Jantsch had a monster night as well with a season-best 55 assists and Jacobi registered her 13th double-double of the season with 12 digs. Meryl Bender led the way in that category with 19 and Mollie Geske added a career-best 16 digs.
The first set would come down to the wire as both teams were knotted on the scoreboard at 23-23. However, back-to-back kills by Jenn Swartz, her sixth and seventh of the set, would give the Eagles an early 1-0 advantage in the match. Jacobi led the `Cats with five kills and Nichols added four while hitting .429.
Ohio's largest lead of the second set would come late as consecutive kills by Nichols and an ace by Nicole Staverman made it 22-18.At 24-21, Eastern Michigan would run off three-straight points on two Ohio errors and a kill by Paige Roback. Now tied, 24-24 and facing a two-set deficit, Ohio forced an attack error by the Eagles and then Hartnett and Faith Robins blocked an attack by Roback for a 26-24 win that evened the match 1-1. Nichols, Hartnett and Post all accumulated four kills apiece. Jacobi added two blocks solos while Hartnett led the way with three blocks of her own.
In the third set, Ohio took a 9-6 lead and would never look back in taking a 2-1 lead in the match. The lead would eventually get to five at 21-16 as Jacobi picked up four-consecutive kills for Ohio points. The senior would add one more and Robins would get the last two of the set as the `Cats took the lead with a 25-20 win. Jacobi had her best set of the match with nine kills and Post added five kills on six swings for an .833 hitting percentage.
The fourth set started to favor the Green & White at 12-8 after a kill by Nichols pushed the lead to four. EMU quickly cut the gap to one at 12-11 and would eventually tie things at 14-14. The Bobcats responded with three points to create some breathing room for themselves and would then push the lead to five at 22-17 after another kill by Nichols. Consecutive kills by Jantsch garnered the final two points of the match for Ohio and gave the team their first weekend sweep since the first two matches of the conference season.
Six Bobcats had kills in the final set with Nichols and Post each registering four and Jantsch going 3-for-3 on her attack attempts.
Also, after netting only 1.0 total team blocks in the first set, Ohio averaged 4.0 total team blocks over the final three sets. The Bobcats rank among the top 10 in the nation in total team blocks per set and increased their average with tonight's performance.
Ohio has not lost to Eastern Michigan in a MAC match since 1999.
Ohio's next match is at Buffalo this coming Thursday at 7 p.m.
