Nov. 5, 2010
Final Stats
Buffalo, N.Y. - Katie Post registered a career-high 21 kills and hit .500 for the match but Ohio (15-11, 7-6) dropped a Mid-American Conference match on Friday night at Buffalo, 25-20, 15-25, 24-26, 25-20, 12-15.
"Katie played great all night," Head Coach Ryan Theis said. "We have seen glimpses of it the last couple games and she has been turning it on. We're going to need performances like that down the stretch and in the conference tournament in order to continue to win games."
The junior, who was just named MAC East Offensive Player of the Week, had a career night while also registering a match-high tying six blocks. Sue Jacobi was the only other Ohio player with double-digit kills, picking up 16. The senior also racked up her 14th double-double of the season and second in a row with 15 digs.
Michelle Jantsch also had another nice performance with seven kills (.429 hitting percentage), 40 assists and nine digs. Meryl Bender had 14 digs and with her fifth of the evening, she moved into 10th on the rally-scoring record list.
Ohio took a 7-3 lead in the first set and eventually pushed that lead to five at 13-8. The largest lead the Bobcats would take would be seven. At 24-17, UB scored three successive points before a kill by Post ended things and gave Ohio a 1-0 edge in the match. Post led the way with five kills, Jacobi added four and Jantsch chipped in with three kills. The `Cats also received aces by Jacobi and Bender and blocked two UB attempts. The Bulls did not help themselves, committing nine errors and hitting .069 in the set.
Ohio fell behind in the second set 7-3, trailed 16-6 and eventually lost 25-15. As a team, Ohio hit only .026 while Buffalo hit a match-best .344. Six different Bobcats recorded kills with Leah Petrovich and Marah Farage garnering their only kills of the match.
"In set two, no one was performing well," Theis said. "So we thought we would give some other players a chance in a very difficult situation and hostile environment."
The third set saw the Green & White get off to a good start and hold a 7-3 lead through the set's first 10 points. However, buoyed by the home crowd, Buffalo registered 13 of the next 15 points to for a 16-9 lead.
Now trailing 21-13, Ohio scored three quick points, capped by the first kill of the season by Ashley Jordan. The `Cats continued to apply pressure and scored seven of the next nine points to even things 23-23. The squads split the next two points before Ohio ran out of steam and Buffalo took the lead in the match with a 26-24 third-set win. Jacobi accumulated five kills in the set while Post picked up four, Hartnett added three and Jantsch and Mandy Nichols picked up two apiece.
The fourth set started off evenly before Ohio created some distance and took an 11-8 lead on a kill by Post. The junior would finish with seven kills in the set and helped Ohio hit a match-high .389. After Buffalo sliced a point off the margin, Hartnett and Jacobi picked up kills before an error made it 18-13 in favor of the Bobcats.
Despite UB's efforts, Jacobi picked up two-consecutive kills to give her five for the set and Ohio earned a 25-20 win to even the match at two games apiece. Faith Robins added three kills and the Green & White registered 4.5 total team blocks.
"Sue really turned it on at the end and that put us in a good position to win," Theis added. "However we didn't get that fifth set to go our way."
Ohio looked like it had things in control with a 5-1 lead in the fifth and final set and it still appeared that with the `Cats leading 8-4. However, Buffalo scored three quick points and 11 of the final 15 to win the set 15-12 and the match, three games to two. Post had four kills in the final stanza and the team had 3.0 total blocks, solos by Nichols and Post.
The Bobcats play their last 2010 regular season road game tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Ohio and Akron will be playing for first place in the MAC East Division with two games remaining on each team's schedule.
