Although Ohio fell in all three of its matches in the Dayton Flyer Classic last weekend, the Bobcats are looking to move on and set their focus on improving before hosting two top-ranked teams this weekend at The Convo.
Ohio, which has already faced two ranked opponents in Pepperdine and Illinois, will take the court with No. 13 Kentucky and No. 20 Oregon, along with Western Carolina, in the Baymont Invitational this weekend.
“We are playing extremely solid competition, but it’s a good way for us to find out what’s broken on our team,” Ohio coach Ryan Theis said. “There are ten different things that we want to work on, but when playing some very good teams we need to focus on being efficient and making less mistakes.”
The Bobcats begin every season competing in tournaments against ranked opponents. This season, the team will face four nationally ranked opponents in just six matches, along with the Dayton team that went undefeated while hosting the Flyer Classic.
Mid-American Conference coaches voted Ohio to win the East Division in a preseason poll, but the team will be put to the test for the remainder of its early season nonconference schedule, which lasts through mid-September.
Ohio will, however, host tournaments during the next two weekends, which allows them to focus purely on performance instead of logistics.
“I hope we can raise to their level and get some wins to prove ourselves a little bit. We need to get a big win,” Theis said. “We will need it for our résumé later, that’s for sure. We really wanted a win this past weekend for our résumé for the NCAA Committee.”
Players shining in defeat, despite youth
Although the Bobcats haven’t notched a victory in their first weekend of play, many players are standing out on the court and seeing results after a full summer of training.
Ohio, which led the nation in blocking in 2010, has already recorded 50 blocks in three matches. Serena Warner, a sophomore middle blocker, leads the team with 16 blocks and posted 11 blocks, a career-best, on Sunday against Dayton.
While the Bobcats have been historically above the pack in the MAC in terms of blocking, nine of their 15 members are redshirt sophomores or younger; however, the young players are making convincing first impressions in their new roles.
Freshman libero Meredith Ashy led the team with digs in each match during the weekend, including a match-high 22 on Saturday, followed by another high of 25 on Sunday. Ashy is leading the team in digs with 56, while sophomore outside hitter Kelly Lamberti has 45.
Lamberti and classmate Chelsea Bilger, a sophomore outside hitter, have been a force to reckon with in the kills department as well. Lamberti led the team with performances of 11, 16 and nine kills in the tournament, while Bilger is not far behind with 34 on the season.
Youth may dominate the team, but several veteran players also are making significant contributions for the team early on this season. Redshirt junior middle blocker Lexie Hartnett finished one kill shy of her career-best 11 on Sunday against Dayton.
