Friday night was the first of a two-game weekend for the Bobcats, playing in the High Point Invitational Friday and Saturday afternoon. The first game for Ohio (3-2) saw the team pitted against High Point (2-3) in what would be a back-and-forth 3-2 victory.
The Panthers dominated play from the opening serve. Sophomore middle blocker BayLea Sparks led the way for the Panthers with five kills while Élodie Lalonde tallied three. The Bobcats had some strong efforts, with freshman Darbi Ricketts having four kills and a dig, and senior Elizabeth Hoerlein had three kills of her own. The Bobcats ultimately lost the first set 25-15, giving a 1-0 advantage to the Panthers.
The second set started with both teams exchanging points before the Panthers ran out to a 7-4 lead. A crucial time-out by Ohio helped the team go on a run and bring some energy back to the court. Hoerlein and junior Anna Kharchynska came up huge in this run helping Ohio tie it up at 12-12. Ohio's pressure and fast-paced play allowed it to take a one-point lead at 19-18.
Ohio would only allow one more point as Kharchynska took over, scoring five points in an 8-1 run for the Bobcats, securing a 25-19 win. The match moving forward was a best of three since both teams had taken one of the first two.
Ohio jumped out to a 7-5 lead early in the third set. High Point took advantage of some service errors by Ohio and flipped the script going on a 5-1 run of their own, taking a 10-8 lead. High Point found more points with the help of back-to-back aces and grew their lead to 16-11. Ohio started a roaring comeback and with help from Ricketts cut the High Point lead to 18-17.
The action got very tense down the stretch as they took a tie game at 25 into a win-by-2 situation for both schools. The Bobcats would pull through with a lot of perseverance and strength in their front line to get a scrappy win 28-26. Ohio now only needed one more set to win the match and open the Invitational on a good note.
Early in the fourth set, High Point jumped to an 11-4 lead. This Ohio team showed remarkable resilience all night and stayed vigilant when trailing. This was on display when Ohio went on a 5-1 run to cut the High Point lead to 12-9. An impressive couple of plays by Kharchynska and sophomore Kam Hunt helped the Bobcats cut the lead to 15-14.
The Bobcats looked comfortable while keeping a steady dose of offense and defensive plays to hold the deficit where it was, now 21-20 in favor of the Panthers. A strong block at the net pushed the Panthers over the limit, gave them a 26-24 win, and pushed the match to a fifth set, tied 2-2.
The fifth and final set, which finishes at just a 15-point minimum, maintained even with both teams exchanging points. A massive ace by freshman, Bryn Janke made it seem like Ohio may take this one with a lead of 10-7*. The fifth set came down to a few crucial plays but the biggest was the winning spike by sophomore Emily Waddell to give Ohio a 15-10 win in set five, securing the victory in the match.
Ohio was led in kills by Kharchynska with 23, a career-high for her. Junior setter Chariti McKellar also reached a season-high in assists with 41, distributing the ball well as Ohio totaled 74 kills.
The following game took place Saturday afternoon against Mercer (5-0) and wasn’t quite as competitive as the previous night’s game. The Bobcats fell in a sweep to a Bears team that has only lost three sets all season.
The first set saw Mercer quickly take a 7-2 lead, capped off by a 4-0 run where Ohio saw itself on the wrong end of three attack errors. Ohio made efforts to close the gap, eventually bringing the set back within one point at 9-8. However, the run was comprised almost entirely of service and attack errors on the part of Mercer, except for one kill from Kharchynska.
The win-by-error trend wouldn’t be sustainable though, as Mercer quickly rattled off a 6-0 run, in which seniors Sky Ekes and Brooke Phillips would connect for three kills as Mercer took a 15-8 lead. Phillips tallied 25 assists through the game, bringing her season total up to 164 (9.11 assists per set).
Ohio would be unable to put together another run of its own en route to a 25-15 set one victory for Mercer.
The second set would look much the same. The Bobcats stared down the wrong end of a 13-9 lead, having not held a lead to this point in the match. However, Ohio, led by Hunt, would string together five consecutive points, taking the lead at 14-13.
It wouldn’t last long though, as Mercer put together a 4-0 run of their own right after, and despite Ohio being able to string together runs of two or three points sporadically, Mercer continued to roll to a 2-0 match lead.
The third and final set of the weekend looked to be much more competitive in early play. Ohio took the first score of the set with a bad set from senior Gia Padilla and would go back and forth, eventually taking a 7-5 lead after a 4-0 run.
To the chagrin of the Bobcats, however, Mercer would string together eight of the next nine total points scored, putting together a comfortable lead at 13-8. Ohio would keep it competitive, especially toward the end of the game, closing a 24-20 gap to 24-23, but a final kill from freshman Sophia Henry would complete the sweep, splitting the weekend for Ohio.
Ohio’s next weekend will take place in Los Angeles, California, as the team faces off against Loyola Marymount, No. 20 USC and Utah State in the SoCal Cup I. The Bobcats will play games in three consecutive days, from Thursday to Saturday.
