Volleyball at Ohio University

Read the posts below to find out more about the Bobcats and their JQH Invitational Tournament victory at Missouri State University.

Riding high now! Two minutes ago Sue rocked in a service ace, and we have won the final game of the match against Missouri State. We win the tournament and we’re looking good.

Some highlights:

–Katie had a career-high 14 kills in the match, with three solo blocks and six block assists.

–Faith had 11 kills, hitting .417 on the day. 5 block assists, too.

–Three service aces for Sue (including that emotional one to close the match.)

–Lexie hit .438, with 9 kills and 6 block assists.

–Meryl had 12 digs and 5 assists leading to kills. (I’ve noticed how Meryl is setting overhand more often, instead of always bumping a second touch to the hitters. It looks promising.)

–Michelle had 38 assists, and clearly she was dishing the ball out to all her hitters.

Wish we had photos–if only there were some equivalent website to MatchPointOhio over at Missouri State—but of course there isn’t.

We’ll stock up on photos next weekend at the tournament here in Athens. Two matches on Friday, at 12 noon against Pittsburgh, and at 7PM against #17 Tennessee. We’ll be there to rock the Convo, right?

Saturday we play Northwestern at 2.

After a hard loss to North Carolina (they took us 3-0, but we did better with each set, we went on yesterday to take two matches in a day, defeating Southeastern Missouri State in three, and handling Texas A&M 3-1.

While we lost to North Carolina, Texas A&M beat them, and we beat Texas A&M. Thus, the tournament is ours to win if we beat Missouri State this afternoon at four. So far this year they are undefeated, at 6-0, their best start in 33 years. We’ll want to change that.

“Watching” the games on GameTracker is a trial. It’s really just a running list of services, aces, errors, sets and kills. If we serve and we get the kill, there’s no telling how many times the ball went back and forth before the final hit. Watching these matches reminds me a little of listening to the New York Dodgers on the radio at night when I was young, with my set turned down low so my parents wouldn’t hear. Only the radio is considerably higher tech—or at least it brings more details—than the ultra-primitive GameTracker. Still, it’s the best chance to follow the game minute by minute. If the game is on, MatchPointOhio is listening, either reveling or despairing.

Let’s revel this afternoon.

I’ll be writing a post for this blog, too fast. I’m busy, there are photos to put up—and I forget to single out some stellar performances.

First, Sue. She’s hitting hard and smart, and she’s our dependable weapon. And so stylin’! She’s a photographer’s dream. I love her approach, coiled in mid-air, left arm out and right arm cocked and ready to explode. You know she’s going to pound that ball. Here, she’s serving:

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I’ve noticed over the years how poorly I can predict an opponent’s performance from their warmup before the match.

North Dakota State looked lackluster, the players were not very tall, they served poorly and didn’t hit that well. But what a surprise when they started to play: they were a feisty team that took us to five sets.

Then Louisville. Frankly, in the warmup they looked stupendous. Ball handling was deft, sets were good, and some spikes were landing well inside the ten-foot line. They looked imposing to me—but promptly we took the first set. It was clear that we were in a dogfight that could go either way.

It went the wrong way in sets two and three. We made 16 service errors in the match, an old problem, and lost both those sets 25-22. We romped in the fourth set, 25-16, but the final set to fifteen points began on a rough note, with a service ace by Louisville: the ball hit the net and dropped on the one-foot line. Louisville pounced, and we never recovered.

It was a great weekend of volleyball, however, with both matches settled by a fifth game: hearts were racing both days, and there was a good-sized OU cheering section.

Michelle, if I read the stats correctly, had 47 assists:

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After the match, Art Ricker, Lexie’s grandfather, announced that he was fine. “I took my heart medicine today,” he said, “so I’m okay.”

That’s how we all felt in the stands: our hearts were in our throats through most of the second, third and fourth games. North Dakota State gave us a run, and for a while it looked like they were going to sink us. They served well, they blocked well (surprising us several times in the middle and the outside), and above all they played strong defense. We spiked, but they didn’t let the ball hit the ground. We had trouble, in the two games they won, with “kill production.”

This, Ryan said earlier in the week, is what he’s aiming for: more balls on the floor, more hits that don’t get returned.

Hitting is the immediate glory of volleyball. And camera in hand, hitters are easy to shoot. They’re stylish and acrobatic. Turning to the backcourt is much harder, especially on hard-driven spikes. But we can we can never dismiss the backcourt. Let us remember the common wisdom It all starts with the pass.

Plenty of good passes and digs going on throughout the match. Here’s Nicole, Mandy and Sue:

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(quick note. VCU defeated Ohio State in the first set of their match later in the day) A lively season opener. We’re hitting and we’re blocking. Passing was okay, and will improve, Ryan assures us. We had five players who hit over .500 for the match, and a few photos on this post will show why.

(For more photos, as usual, go to the 2010 Match Photos in the Sidebar, and soon we should have a couple of web albums up at Picasa: one for game action, and one for other photos we put in a “Yearbook” album.)

What do we love? Spirit! Talent! Coaching! The holy game of volleyball. (Why else would I spend three hours on this lovely sunny afternoon getting these photos in shape and putting them up on the web??)

The bench, on their feet, is excited as Mandy serves.

One of my goals: to get the fans as excited as the players on the bench. Can we hear some hooting and cheering? Do we have to wait for Katie’s dad to get here and rev things up?

The match opens up and I miss our old team. Where are Ellen and Sarah and Meghan and Jane? It’s not the same, I feel a little blue, a little lost. But within minutes I’m plunged into the thrill of the game. We have new players, a new dynamic. Plenty of old faces as well, but it’s a different team, a new team, plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. (That’s for you Lou, our French speaker on the mike.)

Here’s Michelle showing all her style on a dunk, a drive, a tip, whatever they call it: the ball over in two, and usually on the floor:

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