Ohio went 1-2 in its three games in Lincoln, Nebraska, this weekend at the Ameritas Players Challenge at the Devaney Center. The Bobcats fell in three sets to Nebraska, defending NCAA champions, and Santa Clara on Friday. They defeated Wake Forest on Saturday. The Bobcats are now 2-4 in 2018.
Foecke dominates Ohio
Coach Deane Webb said he's watched almost all of Nebraska's games for the past year.
So, he was very familiar with seeing Mikaela Foecke, the Cornhuskers' outside hitter who was the most outstanding player of the Final Four in 2015 and 2017, dominate opponents at the net and lead Nebraska to becoming one of the best volleyball programs in the country.
"They have an outside hitter, Mikaela Foecke, that's just incredible," Webb said on Tuesday.
On Friday, Foecke picked Webb's team apart — the Bobcats fell, 3-0, to the Cornhuskers and saw up close just how powerful Foecke's swing is.
The senior totaled a team-leading 17 kills and just one attack error. Her .593 hitting percentage on 27 attempts is her highest mark of the season so far.
Foecke's performance enabled Nebraska to string together dominant runs, including her five kills in a 9-1 scoring run after Ohio grew a small 7-4 lead in the third set.
Kosiorek's errors
Jaime Kosiorek's second weekend back from injury didn't appear to be any better or any worse than her first weekend.
The outside hitter, who returned in 2018 as a redshirt senior after tearing her ACL in 2017, improved her hitting percentage in each game this weekend and had 11 kills in Saturday's win over Wake Forest.
But Kosiorek's weekend was still mired with attacking errors — she led the Bobcats with 12 errors this weekend, and she currently has the most attacking errors on Ohio in 2018 with 29.
Kosiorek, by no means, has been expected to immediately return to the form that made her arguably Ohio's biggest threat in her previous four years. Webb knows that he'll have to be patient with Kosiorek's comeback from injury.
"I think she is still playing her way back into, not just the physicality side of the game, but also just the mental and the skill-set side of the game," Webb said on Tuesday. "It's just one match at a time. It's not going to happen immediately."
Remmers homecoming
Carley Remmers will never forget Friday.
The Filley, Nebraska, native was introduced as a seventh player in Ohio's starting lineup on Friday. She teared up as the nearly sold out crowd at the Devaney Center roared for Remmers' return home.
When Webb was asked why he wanted to put Nebraska, defending NCAA champions, on the schedule, he only gave one reason.
He just wanted to give Remmers, a redshirt junior, a trip back home. Her family hosted the team for barbecue on Thursday after the Bobcats landed in Nebraska.
Remmers, an outside hitter, appears to be one of the players who will see much less playing time as a result of Kosiorek, also an outside hitter, returning from injury. Remmers appeared in 77 sets in 2017 and made 110 kills, but has yet to play in a full set in 2018.
Regardless of how much playing time she'll receive this season, however, Remmers will have quite a memory to hang on to.
Match 1
Winner: Nebraska (25-17, 25-14, 25-17)
-Lizzie Stephens was Ohio's leader with just seven kills.
-The Cornhuskers had a stellar .349 hitting percentage.
Match 2
Winner: Santa Clara (29-17, 25-18, 25-20)
-Stephens and Jaime Kosiorek combined for 11 attack errors.
-The Broncos had 54 digs.
Match 3
Winner: Ohio (25-20, 25-17, 27-25)
-Tia Jimerson registered a .529 hitting percentage.
-Wake Forest totaled just a .072 hitting percentage.
