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Score: Ohio 3, Miami 1 (25-20, 25-16, 25-27, 25-20)
Location: Athens, Ohio (Convocation Center)
Record: Ohio 12-3 (2-0 MAC), Miami 9-6 (1-1 MAC)
Short Story: The Ohio volleyball team (12-3, 2-0 MAC) notched its second Mid-American Conference win of the weekend with a hard-fought 3-1 (25-20, 25-16, 25-27, 25-20) victory over archrival Miami (9-6, 1-1 MAC) on Saturday (Sept. 26) in a 'Battle of the Bricks' showdown at the Convocation Center.

THE BASICS
• Ohio attacked at a .234 pace while limiting Miami to a .110 hitting percentage.
• Junior outside hitter/libero Mallory Salis (Oak Lawn, Ill.) led the match with 15 kills and recorded a double-double with 15 digs. She also contributed three service aces and a career-high five assists as well as two assisted blocks.
• Senior setter Abby Gilleland (Bull Valley, Ill.) tallied a match-high 39 assists, a career-high tying 22 digs and a career-high 13 kills for her first triple-double of the season. She also recorded an assisted block.
• Sophomore outside hitter Jaime Kosiorek (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) recorded 13 kills and 18 digs. She also notched an assisted block and tallied a service ace and an assist.
• Senior libero Meredith Ashy (Louisville, Ky.) had a match-high 27 digs to go along with six assists and a service ace.
• Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Ali Lake (Liberty Township, Ohio) paced the attack from the middle with seven kills while only having one attack error in 21 attempts. She also posted three digs.
• Senior middle blocker Karin Bull (Bloomington, Minn.) added five kills while having a game-high four total blocks (two solo, two assisted).
• Senior middle blocker/outside hitter Shelby Walker (Bradenton, Fla.) recorded six kills, two assisted blocks and two digs.
• Freshman libero Erica Walker (Wheaton, Ill.) had 11 digs to go along with a career-high four assists.
• Junior middle blocker Paige Hill led Miami with 11 kills and added seven digs. She also tallied three total blocks (one solo, two assisted) and an assist.
• Senior middle blocker Jenny Ingle added eight kills, five digs and one assisted block for the RedHawks while senior outside hitter Annie Reiswig finished with seven kills, five digs and an assisted block.
• Redshirt freshman setter Mackenzie Zielinski led Miami with 22 assists and chipped in 18 digs.
• Sophomore defensive specialist Maeve McDonald totaled a team-high 25 digs in addition to six assists and a service ace for the RedHawks.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Ohio and Miami traded blows at the beginning of the opening set. An attack error by the RedHawks made it 13-12 in favor of the Bobcats, and they did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the set. Multiple kills by Gilleland and Kosiorek paced the Ohio attack down the stretch. Ashy clinched the set victory at 25-20 with her lone service ace of the evening.
• The second set was similar to the first as neither team was able to take control at the start. With Kosiorek on the service stripe at 12-all, Ohio changed that, running off the next three points to take the lead for good. Gilleland spread the ball around as six different Bobcats found the kill column -- including three by Salis. Salis' final kill gave Ohio a 21-16 advantage and put her on the service stripe. She recorded all three of her service aces to close out the second frame, 25-16.
• Ohio rode that momentum into the third set as it looked to close out the match. The Bobcats jumped out to an 11-6 advantage, capitalizing on multiple errors by Miami. Working through the middle, the RedHawks chipped away at the Bobcats lead. Miami finally overtook Ohio after going on a 4-0 run sparked by an Ingle kill. The set was tight the rest of the way until Miami put together a string of three points to finish off the set, 27-25, and force a fourth set.
• The RedHawks continued their hot hitting into the fourth set, grabbing a 10-8 advantage. The Bobcats then proceeded to go on a 5-0 run as Gilleland and Salis connected for three kills to give Ohio its first lead of the set at 13-10. The Bobcats did not relinquish the lead again, holding a small advantage throughout the rest of the set. A Miami error put the ball in the hands of Kosiorek to close out the match. The RedHawks weren't able to fend off her serve as she recorded a service ace to make it 23-20. To close out the match, the Bobcats turned to Salis one more time as she capped off the 25-20 set with her match-high 18th kill of the night.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
• The Bobcats have now won 26 straight MAC regular season matches.
• Ohio starts league play 2-0 for the third straight season and 13th time in the last 15 years.
• The Green & White have taken 11 straight matches from the RedHawks.
• Gilleland recorded her fourth career triple-double. She posted double-digit assists for the 107th time in her career and 15th time this season, double-digit digs for the 36th time in her career and eighth time this season and double-digit kills for the fourth time in her career and first time this season.
• Salis tallied double-digit kills for the fourth time in the last five matches and seventh time in her career. She posted her fifth career double-double and second straight. Salis recorded double-digit digs for the eighth time this year and 24th time in her career.
• Kosiorek posted her seventh double-double of the season. She achieved double-digit kills for the 11th time this season and 25th time in her career.
• Ashy compiled double-digit digs for the 13th time this season and 97th time in her career -- including tallying 20 or more for the seventh time this year and 39th time in her career.
• Erica Walker achieved double-digit digs for the sixth time this year and fourth match in a row.

QUOTABLE
"It was great to go 2-0 this weekend. Any time in conference you get wins, it's a great thing. It's one of those where sometimes you'll say a great loss is better than a bad win, but not in conference. In conference, it's all about wins. Tonight, it was an interesting game. I look at the stats, and, on paper, it looks like we dominated. We outhit them by 125 points, but it didn't feel that way. It was a tight match, particularly those last two sets. I think there were just some moments tonight where we went from being smart, being intelligent with the ball, to, sometimes, we stopped being aggressive enough. We weren't terminal enough attacking. It led to some really long rallies, which are great for the fans, but also makes for some pretty worn out kids. I think both teams had 100 or more digs in only a four-set match. That's a lot of long rallies to make that happen." - Second-year head coach Deane Webb

"It feels great coming off a weekend with two big wins. Two great opponents we played this weekend, and we came out fighting. We were ready to start MAC season, and I think now we're going, and we're ready to take off." - Sophomore outside hitter/libero Mallory Salis

"Every year is a new year. You're going to win different ways. You're going to struggle in different ways. I think taking that into consideration and knowing we're not going to have this type of hitter, but we're going to have this type of hitter, and we're going to win this way. I think it's about identifying that early and then pursuing it as the season goes on." - Senior setter Abby Gilleland

WHAT'S NEXT
Ohio hits the road for the first time in league action next week, visiting MAC East Division rival Kent State on Thursday (Oct. 1) at 7 p.m. ET before traveling Ypsilanti, Mich., to take on MAC East West Division foe Eastern Michigan on Saturday (Oct. 3) at 5 p.m. ET.

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