Ohio beats Eastern Michigan, falls to Central

by Jenny Hugenberg
THE POST

With a loss to Central Michigan and a victory against Eastern Michigan, the Ohio volleyball team kept its top spot in the Mid-American Conference East Division.

Ohio (17-8 overall, 10-4 MAC) fell to the Central Michigan Chippewas (13-10, 7-4) Friday night, but beat the Eastern Michigan Eagles (5-18, 4-8) Saturday afternoon.

The split weekend gives the Bobcats the fourth-highest win total in school history, just four shy of the school record. The team now also has the second-highest conference win total in school history.

Game one against Central Michigan saw the Bobcats out-hit the Chippewas .340 to .105. Central Michigan was in the lead 13-12 near the end of the game, but Ohio rallied and was able to win 15-13.

Central Michigan won the second game 15-12 before going into the close third game.

The Chippewas got off to a 7-0 start, but Ohio fought back and scored eight straight to steal the lead. Central Michigan regained the lead 12-9 before the score was tied at 14 and 16. The Chippewas finally scored the last two to take the game 18-16.

The fourth game was also a close one, but Central Michigan rallied to the 15-11 victory.

Outside hitter Amber Merrill recorded big numbers for the Bobcats with 32 kills, 25 digs and eight blocks. Merrill is the MAC leader for kills. Outside hitter Lori McColl tallied 18 kills and 12 digs, and outside hitter Kris Whitfield had 15 kills and 14 digs. Setter Michelle Gil added 63 assists and 16 digs for Ohio.

"Central Michigan played a great match with amazing defense," McColl said. "We had our chances to win, but we couldn't follow through."

After the loss at Central Michigan the Bobcats traveled to Ypsilanti, Mich. to take on Eastern Michigan.

"Eastern Michigan was the easier of the matches," Whitfield said. "We knew what we had to do, and we came out and took care of business."

The Bobcats wasted no time against the Eagles, taking care of the them in three games.

The first game provided a 15-8 victory for Ohio with the Bobcats out hitting the Eagles .245 to .038. The Bobcats held the Eagles to 14 kills in game two to come out ahead 15-9.

Game three saw Ohio record 22 kills compared to Eastern Michigan's 15 to lead to a 15-10 victory for the Bobcats.

Ohio was able to hold the Eagles to a .118 hitting percentage while Ohio recorded a .241 percentage for the match.

Middle hitter Laura Hageman recorded a .393 hitting percentage while tallying 14 kills. Whitfield had 11 kills, and Merrill added 10.

Ohio is close to clinching its second MAC Tournament bid in 20 years. The Bobcats are awaiting the confirmation of potential tiebreaker scenarios but will be guaranteed a spot with just one more win.

The Bobcats travel to Kent to compete against the Golden Flashes at 7 p.m. Friday and Buffalo to play the Bulls at 7 p.m. Saturday.