After seven weekends of Mid-American Conference action, Ohio is ready to put its regular season experience to the test in this weekend’s conference tournament in Geneva, Ohio.
The Bobcats (19-9, 14-2 MAC) earned the tournament’s No. 1 seed after winning the outright conference title this past weekend with wins against Buffalo and Akron, combined with a Bowling Green loss to Northern Illinois.
Ohio has defeated every team in the conference with the exception of Central Michigan, which dealt the Bobcats their lone loss since the third week of September. However, Ohio coach Ryan Theis doesn’t expect his team to have a significant advantage in the conference tourney.
“I think there are eight good teams playing in the tournament,” he said. “We’re going to have to play very well for three days to win the championship. It’s ‘survive and move on’ if we want to win it all.”
Ohio will take the court with Ball State (14-15, 7-9 MAC) in the tournament’s third Friday match. The Bobcats swept the Cardinals in straight sets earlier this season, but Theis recognizes that the Cardinals have endured multiple injuries throughout the regular season and are a strong eight seed.
Ball State swept Eastern Michigan 3-0 last weekend before losing a hard-fought, five-set match to Central Michigan to conclude its regular season.
The Cardinals, who split their final eight matches, are led by senior middle hitter Lisa Scott, who is second in the MAC in hitting percentage and has notched 274 kills this season. Junior defensive specialist Catie Fredrich is also a key player for Ball State, as she leads the MAC in digs per set with an average of 5.06.
“We’re just going to have to execute on offense and get stops,” Theis said. “(Ball State) has two really efficient attackers, so we have to limit their kills. Their role players are also doing a great job. They’ve been playing at a very high level.”
This year is the 22nd consecutive season Ball State has qualified for the MAC Tournament, but like Ohio, the team exited the tournament in the semifinals last year.
Historically, the Bobcats have fared very well in the MAC Tournament, notching a record of 25-5 with seven tournament championships. Last season was the first time since 2007 that the Bobcats did not finish the weekend with the title.
If Ohio defeats Ball State on Friday, it will face the winner of No. 4 Northern Illinois and No. 5 Akron on Saturday. The Bobcats defeated the Huskies 3-1 in the teams’ lone meeting of the season, while Ohio swept the season series against Akron, losing only one set.
“The No. 1 seed means a lot and has been a priority since day one,” said sophomore middle blocker Serena Warner. “No one has a home-court advantage during this tournament, so we need to be consistent and keep playing at a high level to be successful.”
The three-day tournament is being held in the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, which is a neutral court for all teams. Warner said the environment is much more different than other arenas in which the Bobcats have played this season, but after playing in the facility last year, she is more prepared.
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