Ohio coach Deane Webb's 400th career victory still evades him, Bobcats drop match to Cardinals in five sets.
Ohio coach Deane Webb emphasized the importance of mental and physical toughness to his team following a five-set loss to Michigan in the last match of the Bobcat Invitational.
Webb’s message may have been received by his players, but it didn’t change what transpired in the Active Ankle Challenge this weekend.
Ohio got off to a 2-0 start, sweeping both Seton Hall on Friday (25-20, 26-24 and 25-19) and Utah on Saturday afternoon, 25-16, 26-24 and 25-17.
But Ohio (7-3) couldn’t finish off the sweep of the challenge, however, as Louisville stayed poised in its home arena and battled its way to a five-set victory, 25-19, 25-27, 23-25, 25-22, 15-9.
“Very tough loss tonight,” Webb said of Saturday’s match at the packed Cardinal Arena. “Our team showed incredible effort, but came up a bit short.”
Following a 9-9 start to the first set, the Bobcats made a 6-3 run, but the Cardinals strung together a 7-1 run of their own and finished the set off with four kills.
Coming back from a 19-13 deficit, Ohio eventually took a late lead in the second set with kills by Jaime Kosiorek and Shelby Walker who posted 12 and 11, respectively on the night.
Ohio’s win in the third set was highlighted by a variety combination of assists and kills by seniors Abby Gilleland and Karin Bull.
Gilleland finished the match with 44 assists, marking the fourth time this season she has had 40 or more in a match. Bull tallied eight assisting blocks and five kills.
“I was pleased with our serving and blocking overall, and I was very impressed with the leadership of several of our upperclassmen,” Webb said.
After Louisville fought off Ohio in the fourth set, a momentous 8-2 run in the fifth and final set was too much for Ohio to handle.
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“In the fifth set, as Louisville got very aggressive attacking, we didn’t match it,” Webb said.
Ohio will next travel to Florida this weekend to face Florida Atlantic and Florida Gulf Coast, with Webb still one win away of his 400th career victory as a head coach.
nk596613@ohio.edu
@NKairys
