The Ohio volleyball team lost its first game in more than a month Friday night, but still recorded a pair of road victories to extend its school-record winning streak to 14 matches.
The Bobcats (16-3, 7-0 Mid-American Conference) dropped the second game in Friday's match at Eastern Michigan, ending a streak of 20 consecutive games won.
Ohio won the match's third and fourth games, though, to record its seventh straight road victory.
Right now
we're undefeated (in the MAC) coach Geoff Carlston said. But we have every team wanting us.
Ohio won the match, 31-29, 28-30, 30-25, 30-23, and was carried by a defensive effort that featured a season-high 122 digs.
The match was a defensive battle, rather than an offensive battle, setter Briana Adamovsky said.
We were hitting the balls real hard thinking they would go down
she said. We were surprised when they came right back up. That just pushed us and made us want to get balls up like that.
Libero Michaele Blackburn led the team with a career-high 36 digs, more than any Bobcat has recorded in the past two seasons.
It's almost a surprise when she doesn't get a ball
Adamovsky said. She has definitely solidified our back-row defense.
Adamovsky also played a key defensive role, finishing the match with 50 assists and 16 digs.
Middle blocker Laura Hageman nearly posted a triple-double with 20 digs, 17 kills and eight blocks, while outside hitter Holly Schetzsle finished with a career-high 23 kills.
Following the win against Eastern Michigan, the team traveled to Kalamazoo, where it topped Western Michigan, 24-30, 30-26, 30-25, 30-16.
The Bobcats raised their hitting percentage every game during the match, including .375 during the decisive fourth game. Western Michigan's hitting percentage dropped throughout the match to -.054 during the fourth game.
Friday was a mentally and physically straining match
but I think we did a really good job adjusting and staying focused
Adamovsky said. If Western Michigan got a kill
we would just regroup and come right back at it.
Ohio now holds a perfect 8-0 record in road matches, including 4-0 in the MAC.
We feel pretty comfortable playing on the road
Adamovsky said. It pumps us up more to know that they just want to win so much at home in front of their fans.
The Bobcats lost four conference matches away from home last season, including a MAC tournament match at Kent State.
Last year wasn't as high-impact
outside hitter Katie Smith said. We didn't have the intensity. Yeah
everyone wanted to do good
