Having claimed the top spot of the Mid-American Conference East Division each of the past 10 regular seasons, No. 22 Ohio began conference play and its quest to continue the streak with a pair of victories this weekend.
The Bobcats (12-2, 2-0 MAC) hit the road for a match in Buffalo on Friday, before traveling to Akron on Saturday. Ohio won both matches in less than five sets, which coach Ryan Theis said is a difficult task during MAC play.
“There’s a lot of five-gamers in the MAC, so you don’t want to get stuck in a bad situation on the road.” Theis said. “I was happy that we were able to get out of there 2-0 without ever having to go to a fifth (set).”
The Bobcats defeated Buffalo (13-2, 1-1 MAC) in four sets Friday behind a solid, all-around performance from sophomore setter Abby Gilleland, who notched 36 assists, 17 digs, five kills and 4.5 blocks.
As of Friday, Buffalo dominated with the best blocks per set average in the NCAA, but the Bobcats prevailed, despite the Bulls’ dominance at the net.
“They are the best blocking team we’ve seen, and they proved it,” Theis said. “It was really hard to find kills, we had to do other things besides blocking, but we did block really well too.”
Lamberti notched her sixth double-double of the season with a team-high 13 kills and 11 digs, while redshirt junior outside hitter Liis Kullerkann added 12 kills.
Graduate student middle blocker Alexis Pinson also recorded 3.5 blocks and five kills.
On Saturday, the Bobcats defeated Akron (6-7, 0-2 MAC) in a three-set sweep, which moved Ohio to 10-1 against the Zips under Theis.
However, after trailing most of the third set, the Zips mounted a comeback and almost forced a fourth set.
“Akron was in the same position Friday night, they were down two sets and came back (and won the next two),” Pinson said. “We knew they had the fight in them, and we knew we just had to take control.”
Gilleland notched a team-high of 33 assists, while Kullerkann added seven kills.
Freshman outside hitter Mallory Salis posted a team-high with eight digs and three kills, while Pinson added three aces, which were recorded consecutively during a five-point swing in the first set.
Lamberti recorded a match-high of 11 kills — including seven in the third set — along with seven digs and two aces. The junior reached 1,000 career kills during the match, and she became the eighth player in program history to reach the milestone.
The Bobcats are now tied with Bowling Green for first in the MAC East Division and will host the Falcons this weekend along with the rival Red Hawks.
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