After a five-set loss in their regular season finale Saturday evening, the Bobcats clinched the third seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
The conference tournament will take place next week, with Ohio’s first match scheduled for Wednesday evening. It will play the winner of No. 6 Toledo against No. 7 Kent State.
Miami won the regular season conference title, clinching the number one overall seed in the tournament. Northern Illinois is the second seed.
Last year, Ohio defeated No. 3 Kent State and No. 1 Northern Illinois en route to winning the conference title and its 11th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Looking ahead to their match-up on Friday, the Bobcats have defeated the Golden Flashes twice this season, twice in four sets.
Ohio is 5-0 against Kent State and 1-0 against Toledo in MAC Tournament history.
If the Bobcats win Wednesday, they’ll play the second seed Northern Illinois in a rematch of last year’s conference title game. They lost to NIU in late October in a close five-set matchup.
The conference title, and a possible matchup for a NCAA Tournament berth against rival Miami, is scheduled for Friday.
With the potential for three games in three days against the conference’s top teams, Ohio has a long and challenging path ahead if it wants to make its third appearance in the NCAA Tournament in four years.
