Volleyball: Ohio secures its first conference win against Akron
After their disappointing loss on Friday, Ohio bounced back with a 3-1 victory.
The Bobcats ended their losing streak at home this weekend with incredible performances by Anna Kharchynska and Caitlin O’Farrell. The two led the team and made a huge contribution to the win. It was a competitive first two sets with the lead going back and forth between teams. Ohio took the first set, Akron took the second, but the Bobcats ultimately dominated the final two.
At first, the Zips took the lead in set one coming off of their 3-1 win on Friday night. Akron came ready to play looking to secure a second win against the Bobcats. The Zips did well in the first set until Anna Kharchynska came through with a kill to tie it up. Ohio was able to take the lead in the opening set after an Akron error. The Bobcats ended up winning that set with a 25-23 score and set the tone for the rest of the evening.
Ohio struggled during the second set and made multiple errors that caused the Zips to get ahead. Akron fought hard and took the lead after keeping a tied score almost all set. It was obvious that Ohio lost some of its energy for a while but managed to tie it up again near the end of the set. The Zips kept their lead and won the second set by a score of 26-24.
It didn’t take long, however, for Ohio to regroup and win the next two sets. In the third and fourth sets, Ohio had a total of four aces. Multiple blocks by Emily Waddell and Kam Hunt boosted Ohio’s energy and helped them win set three 25-22.
Akron strung together a couple of kills in set four, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with O’Farrell and Kharchynska. The duo led the team to victory in the last set by an overall score of 25-10.
Kharchynska was a key leader for Ohio throughout the match.
“I feel like I have a bit of pressure on myself because I know the team needs me and I just want to do my best to lead our team to victory,” Kharchynska shared. Her ability to remain positive in every set helps the team succeed as a whole. She hopes to continue pushing her team to do their best in preparation for their next match against Kent State.
Head coach Geoff Carlston gave some insight about how the team could have improved during the match but ultimately played a lot better than they did the previous night.
“The second set was pretty frustrating so for us to come back and play a solid third and fourth set made me pretty proud of them,” Carlston said.
Ohio will play again on Tuesday at home against Kent State.
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