Kent State University
16-9 (10-3MAC)
Ohio University
20-6 (10-3MAC)
Kent State Downs Ohio in MAC East Showdown
11/5/2015 10:24:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
ATHENS, Ohio – Kent State made a statement to the rest of the Mid-American Conference Thursday night by going down to Athens and beating Ohio, 3-1 (13-25, 26-24, 25-13, 25-20). The Golden Flashes are now tied for first place with the Bobcats in the MAC East and just a half-match behind first-place Northern Illinois in the overall standings.
Kent State (16-9, 10-3 MAC) has now won eight of its last nine matches and finishes its conference road schedule with a 7-1 record.
The Flashes came out flat and lost the opening set decisively, but rallied late to take the second set and momentum heading into the intermission. A dominant 14-3 run to end the third set completely took the Ohio faithful out of the match. The Flashes jumped out to an early lead and led by as many as nine points in the fourth set before holding off a Bobcat rally and securing the victory.
Superb defense at the net and on the floor led the way for the Flashes. After allowing Ohio to hit .333 in the first set, the smothering defense held the Bobcats to a .113 hitting percentage over the final three sets. The Flashes held an 88-78 advantage in digs and 11-5 edge in blocking.
Sophomore Challen Geraghty continued her sensational play over the past month and matched her career-high with 39 digs. Senior Sarah Mills had her best match of the season with 16 digs, and sophomore Kelsey Bittinger added 14 digs. Senior Bridget Wilhelm had a match-high six blocks and senior Kelly Hutchison had five blocks.
Kent State had three players record double-digit kills, as junior Katarina Kojic spread the ball around and finished with 39 assists. Hutchison led all players with 15 kills, while junior Drew Norberg had 13 and Bittinger had 11. Wilhelm added nine kills.
Kent State returns to action on Saturday at the M.A.C. Center against Eastern Michigan at 7 p.m.
