Ohio continues to be undefeated in conference matches.
In the home stretch of the season, Ohio turned to its seniors to lead the offense this weekend.
Middle blocker Hannah Burkle and outside hitter Kelly Lamberti aided the Bobcats with high offensive production. Lamberti had 19 kills to lead the Bobcats against the Zips on Friday while Burkle had a career-best 12 kills Saturday at Buffalo.
Ohio (20-4, 14-0 Mid-American Conference) dropped only one set on the weekend and grabbed wins over Akron and Buffalo. Ohio had already beaten both teams this season and completed the season sweep with wins on the road.
Few obstacles remained for the Bobcats heading into this weekend. One player that could have single handedly given Ohio troubles was the MAC’s top hitter, Buffalo senior Tahleia Bishop. Coming into the weekend, Bishop led the conference with 4.33 kills per set.
The Bobcats limited Bishop to four kills, forcing the Bulls (14-14, 4-10 MAC) to turn to other players for offensive production and the only player who stepped up was junior middle blocker Akeila Lain, who had a team-high 10 kills.
Ohio was anxious to face Bishop for the first time after she had to sit out the last matchup with the flu.
“Last time we prepared all week for her and when we played the game we were kind of bummed because it wasn’t the match that we were expecting,” junior libero Meredith Ashy said. “If you ask anyone on the team if they were upset by that they would say yeah because we wanted to play against Bishop.”
Ohio was able to dictate the play by getting Buffalo out of its offensive flow by spreading the ball around the court as the Bobcats posted a .234 hitting percentage.
The same held true Friday at Akron (8-20, 2-11 MAC) when the Bobcats won in four sets and only let the Zips out hit them in one set. In the second set Akron hit .257 while Ohio only managed to hit .229 to snag a set victory from the Bobcats.
“We hit .230 which normally isn’t that bad of a number; we just didn’t defend very well in that set,” coach Deane Webb said. “Akron just played so hard. I was impressed with how hard that team competed tonight. … As much as I was frustrated that we lost that set, I really want to give a lot of credit to Akron because they played really hard today.”
Only one weekend remains in Ohio’s quest for an undefeated conference run. Its 15-game win streak is starting to catch the eyes of voters around the country and the Bobcats should inch closer to be ranked for the first time this season after receiving six votes last week.
The trek from New York to Athens is the last the Bobcats will have to make this season, as they will end the MAC regular season with two home matches against Bowling Green and Miami before hosting the MAC Tournament in two weeks.
Coach Deane Webb is the first first-year head coach in program history to lead the Bobcats to 14 straight MAC wins to open the conference season. That, however, is something he says doesn’t mean much to him and is more about the team.
“I don’t know if it means a whole lot to me as a first-year coach or as a coach at all,” Webb said. “What I talked about is how neat it would be for our seniors. How great it would be to leave your last mark, your last season to leave a legacy and to say that no one can do better. They are some very talented young ladies and I would like for them to be remembered in that way.”
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