The Mid-American Conference is officially heating up with six teams making the tournament and eight teams still eligible to make some noise and capture a spot in the conference tournament. In the race, Ohio (13-13, 9-6 MAC) took on Buffalo (14-14, 10-5 MAC) Friday night and found a timely victory, 3-1.
The team also got some good news: Toledo (15-12, 8-7 MAC) fell to Ball State (17-8, 10-4 MAC), allowing Ohio to slide nicely into sixth place in the MAC standings.
Ohio has been through a very up-and-down season up to this point. However, through hard work and a fiery spirit, the team has found itself in contention for a playoff berth. This comes from the very top and head coach Geoff Carlston, who tried to inspire his team before taking the court Friday.
Carlston said a large part of the reason he came back to Ohio was his goal of coaching the team back to a MAC Tournament Championship, something the team has not achieved since 2015.
Carlston wanted to show that he feels the team is dangerous against every team they come across and is a threat to every team in the MAC. He wants the team to keep up the tenacity through the season’s close and finish strong.
“We have a good group and we’re playing really well right now,” Carlston said. “I want this group to have the opportunity to get in the tournament because we’re going to be a gnarly team to play.”
The Bobcats controlled the game very well throughout the evening, dominating the first set by a score of 25-10 and setting the tempo for how the team would play all night.
Ohio also fought through the three following sets. They lost the second set 26-24, letting it slip away in the last few points, but that was the last time that would happen in this match. Ohio closed it out in sets three and four, withstanding a couple of rallies to win in four sets.
The most important thing for this team right now is winning and they can clinch a spot by winning out; if they don’t then it can come down to tiebreakers throughout the conference depending on how the next two weeks shake out.
“It’s crazy, I mean we’re 9-6 (currently sixth),“ Carlston said. "Two years ago we were 10-8 and finished third. 10-8 is going to probably get you not in the tournament this year.”
Ohio is back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. to try and claw even closer to that tournament berth, looking to complete a sweep over Buffalo in the Convocation Center.
