Despite losing its first Mid-American Conference match of the season, the Ohio volleyball team bounced back in its following match looking to build momentum toward coming matchups.
After just one weekend of MAC play, Ohio (6-8) is one of eight teams that possess a 1-1 conference record, including four of the five teams that received first-place votes in the preseason coaches’ poll.
Ohio coach Ryan Theis expects the conference to be full of parity this season after the evenly-split opening weekend of matches.
“We’re 1-1 and there is going to be a lot of parity this season in the conference,” Theis said. “We’ll just have to see what happens next weekend. I usually think it takes about 14 wins to win the league, but we’ll see in a couple weeks if 14 wins is realistic for anybody.”
The Bobcats lost in straight sets Friday to Bowling Green, the only undefeated team in the MAC East, while Ball State is the lone team in the West without a loss.
However, the team fired from all aspects the next day to sweep Miami 3-0 for the sixth consecutive meeting between the two schools.
“We are still evaluating against each other, now,” Theis said. “We all play different preseason schedules, so it’s tough to tell who is the best team, or if there is a best team this season.”
In their out-of-conference schedule, the Bobcats played four teams that are currently ranked in No. 2 Oregon, No. 18 Pepperdine, No. 20 Dayton and No. 21 Illinois, as well as North Carolina, which also received votes this week.
Ohio is also near the top in the MAC in multiple statistical categories that could come to be an advantage for the team in coming meetings.
As a team, the Bobcats lead the conference in blocking with 2.66 blocks per set, with sophomore middle blocker Serena Warner ranking second in blocking, as well as hitting percentage.
The team is also in the top third in hitting percentage (.218) and opponent hitting percentage (.187).
Ohio continues in conference play and attempts to win the program’s tenth consecutive MAC East title this weekend when the team will begin a four-match home stand spanning two weekends of play.
“It might just be a revolving door this season, you might go 2-0 one weekend and 0-2 the next. We’ll find out,” Theis said. “We’re looking forward to (conference play) and the team is excited to be in the hunt of the MAC.”
cl027410@ohiou.edu
