Falcons and hawks are birds of prey, but in earlier matchups this season the Bobcats preyed on both.
Ohio (15-9, 7-3 Mid-American Conference) swept Bowling Green and Miami in the first MAC matches of the season. This time, the Bobcats will try to complete the season sweep.
Offensively, the two teams are similar. The biggest discrepancy lies in defensive statistics. The Bobcats are second in the conference in hitting percentage allowed during conference play at .164. Bowling Green is last in the conference at .282.
On paper, the Bobcats’ offense should handle the opposition easily, but head coach Ryan Theis does not take much stock in statistics.
“It’s always in flux,” Theis said. “You’d love to say that you can hit your average, it’s a bad defensive team, and you can hit 20 points higher than your average. It depends on people’s day.”
Falcons head coach Denise Van De Walle recognized her team’s defensive struggles and said the team is “okay” at blocking, it just needs to be smart in trying to rebound from the earlier defeat.
“We were really disappointed,” she said. “We know we can play better.”
Theis said the biggest difference is that Bowling Green and Miami did not play well at all in terms of their standards.
He added that each team is significantly better than when they played in Athens.
“We are going to expect a dogfight on the road this weekend,” he said.
Van De Walle said serving is going be a key when playing against a team that has Ohio’s height.
The Falcons are third in service aces per set with a 1.24 average.
“Ohio has more size, and against a team like that, serving is very important to us,” Van De Walle said. “We were near the bottom of the conference last year but this year we are top three.”
The Bobcats swept Miami earlier this year, but Theis said the RedHawks are eager for the rematch.
Theis said he expects both teams to give the Bobcats their best game.
“I just expect each team’s best effort both physically and mentally,” he said.
nr225008@ohiou.edu
