It was our pleasure to chronicle the Ohio volleyball team’s 17-game winning streak and undefeated Mid-American Conference campaign this year, and we’re sad to see that the Bobcats bowed out of the conference tournament too early.
As you can read on our front page today, the Bobcats lost to Western Michigan in five sets — falling in the final three sets before a stunned Convo crowd.
Historically, the MAC has been a conference that has had only one representative in the NCAA Tournament: its postseason tournament victor. Given Ohio’s pedigree, we believe that it should be considered for an NCAA at-large bid — or an NCAA Tournament invitation extended to a team that didn’t win its conference tournament.
Ohio has a 23-5 record and has topped major-conference teams such as Ohio State, Virginia Tech and Syracuse this season.
Thirty-one of the 64 NCAA Tournament teams receive bids for winning their respective conference tournaments, while the remainder receive at-large bids.
Although Ohio’s conference schedule wasn’t as challenging as some other teams that are seeking NCAA at-large bids, we believe the Bobcats have what it takes to stand up to some of the nation’s best teams.
It would be a shame to see Friday’s nonconference game against Dayton be the Bobcats’ final bout of the season. Our fingers are crossed for an at-large bid.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.
