The only fluff in Ohio’s nonconference schedule is the fur on the mascot’s costumes.
Some teams will play a light nonconference schedule, but Ohio and others tend to play a more aggressive nonconference schedule in order to prepare for conference play.
So far this season, Ohio has emerged with a 3-3 record against stiff competition.
Last weekend, the Bobcats came back to Athens with a 1-2 weekend record.
In the win against Virginia Tech (16-25, 25-23, 15-25, 25-23, 16-14), the team rallied from a 2-1 disadvantage and was pushed to the brink in the final game.
“(It was) a nice win against a veteran Virginia Tech team that advanced in the NCAA tournament a year ago. It was a nice fifth game where we were down 14-13 and turned it around and won,” head coach Ryan Theis said.
Two freshmen, Chelsea Bilger and Kelly Lamberti, tied with 12 kills apiece. Senior Katie Post tied a career high with 13 blocks.
Saturday’s losses came against Kentucky and Western Kentucky.
Kentucky swept the Bobcats (20-25, 28-30, 14-25) to mark the team’s second loss to a Southeastern Conference opponent.
“We were neck and neck with Kentucky in set two and just missed finishing that one,” Theis said. “That would have put us at 1-1 with maybe a little different outlook on the next couple games.”
No player for Ohio had more than six kills in the match, and the Wildcat defense held the Bobcats to a hitting percentage of .036.
Ohio took the first game of the next match 25-23 but lost the next three games 15-25, 21-25 and 25-27.
Post tallied 15 kills in the match and earned a spot on the all-tournament team. She finished with 23 kills and 24 blocks for the weekend.
“We won the first set. The next two we did not play well, which is a bit of a theme for us.” Theis said. “That has been an ongoing issue, and hopefully by the end — or optimistically by the middle of
the season — we can get over that.”
At this point in the season, Theis said he would take his team’s 3-3 record but that the team is a little bitter about two of the losses Saturday because they could have been 4-2.
He also said his team is doing some regrouping and that they need to play better offensively.
“At some point, they’ll surprise you and play terrific, and at some point, they’ll make a mistake,” Theis said. “It’s fun. It’s exciting. I think we got better from the first week to the second week, and the one thing we need is to get better, especially on offense.”
@ThePostSports
