After winning the outright Mid-American Conference regular-season title last weekend, top-seeded Ohio was upset by No. 4 Northern Illinois in a five-set battle in Saturday’s semifinal MAC Tournament match.
Ohio won the first two sets and headed into intermission with a 2–0 lead in the match, but Northern Illinois completed the comeback and won the final three sets to clinch the match win and advance to the title game. This season is the second consecutive season the Bobcats won the MAC East regular season but were upset in the semifinal round.
“We always talk about how challenging it is to win the final set after being up 2–0,” Ohio coach Ryan Theis said. “We felt like we had all the momentum in the world entering intermission, but after the 10-minute break, Northern earned it and outplayed us the rest of the way.”
Northern Illinois began the third set strong and continued on its way to a 25–18 win, which was the largest margin of victory for either team in the match.
After losing the third, Ohio came back in the fourth and fifth sets and traded points with Northern Illinois for the majority of each set, but the Huskies were able to close out both to clinch the match.
In set four, the Huskies scored five consecutive points to end the set, while doing the same in the fifth by scoring four unanswered points to end the match.
“They fought us, and we were unable to get any kills or blocks,” Theis said. “No matter what we tried to throw at (Northern Illinois), they were able to stop us. They just had a perfect ability to score, and we couldn’t at the end of sets.”
Leading the Bobcats was sophomore outside hitter Kelly Lamberti, who recorded another double-double performance that helped her earn the MAC player of the year award. She finished with 19 kills and a team-high 25 digs.
Fellow sophomore outside hitter Chelsea Bilger also was dominant at the net, as she notched a match-high 20 kills on her way to scoring 21points for Ohio. Senior outside hitter Faith Robins also added 14 kills.
The Bobcats and Huskies finished the match with the same number of kills (66), but Northern Illinois scored two more points and recorded two more digs in the five-set battle.
Northern Illinois advanced to the MAC Tournament title game Sunday but lost to eventual champion Bowling Green, which won its semifinal game against Western Michigan 3–2.
Despite exiting the tourney shy of the final game, the Bobcats have one game remaining on their schedule, as they will play Notre Dame in The Convo on Friday. Ohio also can earn an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament, but currently has an RPI of only 60.
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