Ruffles. Pringles. Doritos. Poker.
No, those won’t be the kinds of chips that Ohio has on its shoulders when the weekend arrives.
Coach Ryan Theis has a 24-2 record against the MAC East during his time with the Bobcats. With five of the final six opponents being divisional foes, the schedule seemingly should be easier for the rest of the regular season.
Theis says his team cannot breathe a sigh of relief because it has to play on the road twice more before it finishes up the season with the final home stand.
“We want to win this championship, and we’re not playing like it,” Theis said.
“Everybody wants to play better. Will we bring the intensity that we need to have that happen?”
The players echo the statement: Last weekend’s losses do not reflect how they want to be portrayed.
“Being the underdog or working from behind is something that we haven’t experienced yet,” senior defensive specialist Nicole Staverman said. “We need to have a sense of urgency, kind of be a little pissed off that we have dropped three sets and hopefully use that momentum to our advantage.”
KEEP UP THE ENDURANCE
In the early part of the season, it was commonplace for the Bobcats to play a five-set match. Each of the first four matches went to five sets, and the Bobcats won all of them. But only one has gone the distance since.
The last one the Bobcats had was against Pittsburgh. Since that time, the longest game has been four sets — and that’s happened only twice.
With games finishing quickly, the Bobcats have conditioned on Mondays since conference play began. If one of the weekend games were to go five sets, the conditioning would be canceled, but that hasn’t happened yet.
In preparation for the MAC tournament, Theis said the Bobcats have to keep the endurance up because if they advance, they could play three games in three days, which hasn’t happened since the non-conference season.
PUSH FOR THE TOURNAMENT
Last season, Ohio went 5-1 in the last six games of the season and went on to sweep the conference tournament. This year, the team has a better record at this point and thinks that it can make a similar tournament push.
“I think it’s there,” Theis said about his team making a push for the conference championship. “We’ve seen enough good play from every player to think that a championship is possible.”
He added that the team needs to be in rhythm, with everyone playing well at the same time.
Staverman said no matter what a team’s record might be, there is always the tournament to redeem any low points in the season.
“The end of year, the NCAA tournament is what you are going to remember,” she said.
nr225008@ohiou.edu
