CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Ohio volleyball team (2-10, 0-0 MAC) came up short in its five-set battle with Furman (9-3, 0-0 SoCon), losing 3-2 (25-23, 19-25, 25-18, 17-25, 15-17) on Saturday, Sept. 20.
 
Ohio finished with 62 kills, six aces, seven blocks, 58 assists and 76 digs. Furman finished with 69 kills, eight aces, seven blocks, 65 assists and 76 digs.
 
Freshman Bailey Blair was an offensive force for Ohio as she tallied a career-high 23 kills along with a team-high 28.5 points and five aces. Junior Torre Kildow (Bethesda, Ohio) also recorded a career-high in kill with 21 total. Kildow finished with an attack percentage of .372 in addition to 22 points. Sophomore Bryn Janke (Westfield, Wis.) distributed a season-high 47 assists.
 
Janke and junior Kendall Hickey (Fishers, Ind.) finished with 14 digs each. Senior Leah Rogers (Hudsonville, Mich.) led the team in blocks, finishing with one block solo and three block assists.
 
The game was extremely close from the very beginning. The two teams kicked off the first set with a lot of back-and-forth and trading scoring runs. Three-straight points at the end of the first set by Ohio was the decider. The Bobcats gained an early 1-0 lead with a 25-23 in the first set.
 
Furman evened the score with a 25-19 in the second set, tying the game at 1-1.
 
Ohio showed some dominance in the third set. After going back-and-forth, the Bobcats pulled away with a four-point scoring run. Ohio maintained its lead, ultimately taking a 2-1 lead with a 25-18 win in the third set.
 
Furman dominated the fourth set. The Paladins' 25-17 win tied the game at 2-2 and forced a fifth set.
The battle came to an end with a 17-15 win for Furman. Despite their hard-fought battle, the Bobcats ultimately fell to the Paladins.
 
The Bobcats will be back in action at Bowling Green for its first game of conference play on Thursday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. ET. The game will be available to watch on ESPN+.
 
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