Miami remains unbeaten in the Mid-American Conference standings after beating Ohio 3-1 (15-4, 16-18, 15-12, 15-10) last night at The Convo.

The RedHawks (12-4, 4-0 in MAC) ran their all-time mark to 36-1 against the Bobcats, despite playing their third match in five days. Mindy Collins topped Miami with 17 kills and 13 digs while Alissia Thompson added 14 kills for the RedHawks.

Miami's record notwithstanding, the Bobcats hardly conceded a victory to the RedHawks.

Amber Merrill, who along with Kristina Whitfield, tied for a team-leading 16 kills, summed up Ohio's reaction to the game in one simple sentence; "We blew a great opportunity."

Ohio head coach Ellen Dempsey wasn't about to pat Miami on the back either.

"I don't really think Miami's that good," Dempsey said. "I think we played very poorly."

Dempsey didn't think the Bobcats were focused enough to face an opponent such as the RedHawks.

"They (Ohio) didn't come in ready to play hard," she said. "They played scared for the first game and a half. After that we started to settle down and we passed a little bit better, and near the end of game three and game four we just couldn't find the offense when we needed it."

Dempsey said the game plan was to play the ball to the outside of the court so as to run away from Miami's block. But the RedHawks played the net successfully as they blocked or deflected many of Ohio's attempted kills.

This fact sent Dempsey to her bench, particularly in the second game. Middle blocker Leslie Arnoldink contributed one kill and three digs as a backup and all 12 Bobcats saw action.

"In all four games we started out behind and particularly in games one and two I thought they were playing scared and they were real tentative out there and I was just trying to rattle things up," Dempsey said. "`Shake something up and try and find a lineup that would help', I thought. Leslie Arnoldink did a great job coming off the bench, particularly in game two. She was a big part of the reason we came back and won that game."

Crowd support was another reason for the win in the second game, as the 153 people in attendance applauded Ohio which rallied from being down 13-7 to an 18-16 victory. The Bobcats seemed to be having more fun and were more confident because of the set win, but that changed after the intermission between games two and three.

Traci Nation said the intermission was not to blame for the disruption in the team's confidence, but couldn't offer an explanation.

"I don't know what happened," Nation said.

Whitfield said the larger-than-usual crowd, which included a contingent of fans who made the trip down from Miami, was not an excuse for the loss.

"Maybe we were a little bit nervous," Whitfield said. "But, I just think that we weren't focused for this match."