ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio volleyball team (1-0, 0-0 MAC) kicked off its season with a 3-0 sweep (25-20, 25-23, 26-24) against Xavier (0-2, 0-0 Big East) in its season opener and first competition of the Bobcat Invitational. 

The Bobcats were led by sophomore Kam Hunt (Sylvania, Ohio) who tallied a game-high 11 kills along with five digs. Junior Anna Kharchynska (Kyiv, Ukraine) had an impressive first game of the season, totaling nine kills with a .471 hit percentage and two blocks. 

Senior Elizabeth Hoerlein (Mason, Ohio), sophomores Emily Waddell (Zionsville, Ind.) and Olivia Gardner (Macomb, Mich.), and freshman Darbi Ricketts (Cincinnati, Ohio) all contributed six kills each. Hoerlein also led the game with a .600 hit percentage. Sophomore Kendall Hickey (Fishers, Ind.) led both teams with a total of 17 digs. 

Set one began with the Bobcats taking an early 12-7 lead highlighted by a 7-2 run. Xavier cut its deficit to one, followed by the teams trading points to set the score 20-19 in favor of Ohio. The Bobcats ended with a 5-1 run to take set one 25-20. 

In a mirror image of set one, the second was a back-and-forth battle with neither team being able to gather a significant lead. The Bobcats were able to string together a 4-0 run, shortly followed by a 7-2 run to gain a 16-10 advantage. Xavier came back to get within a point, but Hoerlein shut down the comeback with a kill to win the set 25-23.  

Xavier took the lead to begin the third set.  After trailing by three, the Bobcats put together an 8-3 run to take an 18-15 advantage. The set was all knotted up at 19 a side before Hunt and Kharchynska each had a pair of kills, tying the set at 24-24 with Xavier. Two attacks errors by the Musketeers gave Ohio a 26-24 win in the third set. 

Ohio will conclude the Bobcat Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 31. The Bobcats will start the day with App State at 1 p.m. and will then face Wright State at 7 p.m.

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