After claiming the Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship last weekend, Ohio will conclude its regular season in Richmond, Va. against Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday.
The Bobcats (27-4) are currently riding an 11-match winning streak, including straight-set sweeps in their past five matches. They will try to increase those marks on Saturday.
With a victory against VCU, coach Ryan Theis will become the all-time winningest coach in program history, as he is tied with former coach Geoff Carlson (2003-07) with 144 wins. This comes right after he was named the MAC coach of the year on Wednesday.
VCU (25-8) is coming off a 3-1 loss in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament championship game against Duquesne last weekend. The Rams finished second in the A-10 and are No. 64 in the NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index rankings, opposed to Ohio’s No. 35 rating.
“I think (Ohio) can compete on (the national) level and I think they proved that during the preseason,” Theis said. “We’re excited for the challenge and I think we’re ready. VCU will be a good test, they are a team that if a couple matches fall differently their RPI would fall within the top-50.”
The Rams have the A-10’s player of the year in sophomore outside hitter Romana Kriskova, who ranks fifth in the NCAA with 4.86 kills per set and averages 2.34 digs per game.
“(VCU) runs a really fast offense, probably as fast as Northern Illinois, but even out-of-system they keep it fast,” Theis said. “Northern is one of the fastest teams we’ve played all year and VCU is that quick they have an outside hitter that is spectacular.”
On the defensive side of the floor is junior libero Amanda Love, who received A-10 libero of the year honors this season after averaging 3.74 digs per set, despite not starting a single match.
VCU junior middle blocker Janelle Sykes leads the team’s blocking with 1.38 blocks per set, which places her at 21st in the NCAA — just four spots ahead of Ohio graduate student middle Blocker Alexis Pinson.
In Ohio’s single-season record book, Pinson sits at third in block assists (144) and tied for sixth in total blocks (157).
She is just five block assists from Katie Post’s 149 in 2011 and four total blocks away from a tie for fourth place with 161. Pinson also ranks No. 25 in the nation with 1.37 blocks per set this season.
The Bobcats are 2-0 against the Rams all-time, including a straight-set sweep during their most recent meeting in 2010.
“We’ll prepare as if we’re playing well, but we’ll have plans if things aren’t working or we can’t accomplish certain things against VCU,” Theis said.
Ab109410@ohiou.edu
@Alex_Busch91
