HARRISONBURG, Va. — The Ohio volleyball team (0-1, 0-0 Mid-American Conference) fell to the UMBC (1-0, 0-0 America East Conference) 3-2 in its first match of the season on Friday, Aug. 25.
Ohio out-hit UMBC .189 to .108 with 60 kills over 159 attempts. UMBC totaled 48 kills over 166 attempts.
The first set began with a back-and-forth battle, with neither team being able to pull away from the other. After the eighth tie at 20 points aside, the Bobcats rallied to score five points in a row to win set one 25-20.
Ohio struggled to carry its momentum into set two. It trailed early and could not find a run of its own while UMBC kept a steady lead at 14-8. Ohio tacked on a 7-1 run to tie the set at 15, forcing UMBC to call a timeout. However, UMBC regained the lead and closed set two with a 25-21 victory.
Set three was a mirror image of set two. The Bobcats fell behind early and needed a spark. The Retrievers continued to grow their lead and put the score at 13-6. The Bobcats went on an 11-5 run to make the set competitive and tie it at 17. But once again, UMBC pulled away late and won set three 25-21.
The Bobcats looked to tie the match with a 9-3 lead in the fourth set. After a brief timeout, the Retrievers went on a 7-1 run to tie the set at 10. Determined to force set five, the Bobcats put together an 11-2 run to go up 21-12. The Bobcats closed out the set to win 25-17.
Ohio's strong performance from set four continued into set five. It took a five-point lead, but UMBC chipped away at the lead to tie the set at eight. Both teams traded points and accumulated seven ties in the set. UMBC forced match point and served an ace to take the fifth set 17-15 to win the match.
Individually, freshman Torre Kildow (Bethesda, Ohio) led the game in kills with 17. Kildow also had an impressive .244 hitting percentage. Sophomore Anna Kharchynska (Kyiv, Ukraine) followed close behind with 12 kills of her own. Graduate Student Caitlin O'Farrell (Suwanee, Ga.) was successful on both sides of the ball. She had the third-most kills for the Bobcats with 11 and led the match in blocks with nine.
Senior Sam Steele (Omaha, Neb.) led the game in digs with 24 and also recorded eight assists. Graduate Student Parker Kwiatkowski (Grand Rapids, Mich) had 18 digs and 50 of Ohio's 58 assists along with two blocks and a .250 hit percentage.
Ohio will be back in action tomorrow (Aug. 26) against James Madison at 4:00 p.m. ET.
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