Women’s Volleyball Hosts #2 Penn State and #25 Wisconsin – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/10/1998 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
November 10, 1998
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State (12-11 overall, 5-9 Big Ten) host #2 Penn State (24-0, 14-0) on Wednesday and #25 Minnesota (16-9, 6-8) on Friday. The Penn State match will be telecast on tape delay by Central Ohio Sport Television on Nov. 12 and 13 at 7 p.m. Randy Rhinehart and Audrey Flaugh will call the action.
%^$OHIO STATE LAST WEEK
%^$The Buckeyes, on the road, defeated Iowa 15-8, 15-9, 15-8 and lost to #8 Wisconsin 7-15, 8-15, 10-15.
%^$THE BEST OF THE BUCKEYES
%^$Rosie Snow leads the Buckeyes in kills with 403 for a 5.10 per game average. Two additional players are averaging three or more kills per game. They are Angelee Abbring (3.41) and Dana Stearns (3.08). Stearns has a team high .255 hitting percentage with Abbring at .213 and Snow at .229. Top servers on the squad are Stearns with 32 ace serves and Snow with 25. Flynn leads the team in digs with 182 (2.28 per game) with Snow second at 177 (2.24). Stearns has a team high 65 blocks (six solo, 59 assists) for a .82 per game average. Flynn is second in blocks with 59 (nine solo and 50 assists) for a .74 average. Flynn (818 assists) and Carey Cavanaugh (254 assists) have shared the setting duties. Flynn has a 10.23 per game average to 3.261 for Cavanaugh.
%^$The Buckeyes are averaging 16.13 kills, 2.69 blocks, 12.15 digs and 1.71 aces per game and is hitting .211 for the season. Ohio State opponents average 15.15 kills, 2.53 blocks, 12.41 digs and 1.30 aces per game. Opponents are hitting .239.
%^$BUCKEYES UNRANKED
%^$Ohio State is not ranked in the top 25 of the USA TODAY/AVCA Coaches Poll for only the second time in the last 10 years. The Buckeyes were unranked for five weeks last season before returning to the rankings and finishing 15th for the season.
%^$SNOW CONTINUES DOUBLES STREAK
%^$Rosie Snow had 13 kills and 11 digs against Iowa and Wisconsin last weekend to extend her double-figure kills streak to 13 matches and in digs to three. Snow has had double-figure kills in 30 matches in her career and 23 double-figure digs matches. She has had 15 double-doubles (kills-digs).
%^$SPIERS CONTINUES COMEBACK
%^$Brianne Spiers continues to see back-row actions last week. Against Iowa, she had seven digs and against Wisconsin picked up three digs and two ace serves. Spiers is limited to back-row duty as she recovers from a stress fracture.
%^$FLYNN NOW FOURTH IN CAREER ASSISTS
%^$Jen Flynn raised her season total of assists to 818 and now has 2,631 career assists. That moves her to fourth on the OSU career list passing Marlene O’Brien (1983-86) with 2,621.
%^$FLYNN HAS SEASON BEST HITTING
%^$Jen Flynn recorded a season best .471 hitting percentage against Wisconsin. She had eight kills, no errors on 17 attempts. Her previous season high was .417 vs. Florida (5-0-12).
%^$ABBRING BLOCKS TO CAREER HIGH
%^$Angelee Abbring picked up six assist blocks against Iowa for a new career high. She had a previous best of five, twice before, the last coming at Illinois. The six blocks also represent a career high for total blocks.
%^$BOTICA EQUALS ASSIST BLOCK HIGH
%^$Anne Botica was credited with three assist blocks at Iowa to tie her career high for the third time. She previously had three against Illinois. This also represents the fourth time she has had three total blocks this season.
%^$CAVANAUGH DIGS TO CAREER HIGH
%^$Carey Cavanaugh set a career high of 12 digs at Wisconsin last weekend. Her previous high was 10 at Northwestern.
%^$OHIO STATE VS. PENN STATE
%^$Penn State leads the series with Ohio State 16-9. The Nittany Lions have won the last five meetings, four of those at Penn State. The teams played earlier this season in University Park with Penn State winning 15-1, 15-3, 15-3. The Buckeyes have won five of 11 matches in Columbus, the last coming in 1996, a 8-17, 10-11, 14-10, 17-10, 17-15 television format match. Penn State has won eight of 11 matches in University Park and has a 2-1 lead in neutral court matches. The Buckeye have defeated Penn State more than any other Big Ten team. (Northwestern six, Purdue five.)
%^$PENN STATE LAST WEEK
%^$Penn State rolled to two more sweeps over the weekend, defeating Wisconsin in front of 7,001 fans in Madison, the largest regular-season crowd in UW history. The next day the Lions knocked off Iowa in Iowa City to up their record to 24-0, 14-0 in conference play. Carrie Schonveld totaled 13 kills and Lindsay Anderson collected 12 kills and 13 digs with a .550 hitting percentage in the win over the Badgers. In Saturday’s match against the Hawkeyes, PSU was led by Christy Cochran with 11 and Lauren Cacciamani with 10 kills. Cacciamani also had a .563 hitting percentage in the win.
%^$OHIO STATE VS. MINNESOTA
%^$Ohio State holds a 23-17 lead in the series with Minnesota. OSU has won 12 of 16 matches played in Columbus and 10 of the last 11. In 1996, the Gophers stopped an nine-match home winning streak with a 3-1 (15-12, 8-15, 15-4, 15-1) victory. In Minneapolis, the Buckeyes have won nine of 17 matches, but lost earlier this season 3-1 (15-3, 11-15, 15-11, 15-11) to the Gophers. Minnesota has won five of seven neutral court matches.
%^$MINNESOTA LAST WEEK
%^$Minnesota lost to Michigan State but defeated Michigan over the weekend in Minneapolis. Sophomore outside hitter Nicole Branagh is 49 kills away from becoming the 11th player in Golden Gopher history to surpass 1,000 kills. She is close to joining elite company, as Big Ten and Minnesota career kills leader Katrien DeDecker had 1,010 kills in her first two seasons. DeDecker’s 2,300 career kills place her fifth in the NCAA all-time list.
%^$OSU VS. RANKED TEAMS
%^$Against nationally ranked teams this season, Ohio State has a 2-9 record. The Buckeyes defeated No. 6 Florida and No. 18 UCLA. OSU has lost to No. 1 Penn State, No. 4 Nebraska, No. 6 & 8 Wisconsin, No. 14 Hawaii. No. 20 & 17 Illinois. No. 22 Michigan State and No. 24 Minnesota.
%^$HEAD COACH JIM STONE
%^$Jim Stone is in his 17th year at Ohio State. He has a 376-166 (.694) record with the Buckeyes and is 214-87 (.711) in Big Ten play. His squads have won Big Ten championships in 1989, 1991 and 1994 and in the last nine years have never finished below third. In the championship years, he was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year and in 1991 was the Volleyball Monthly Coach of the Year. For the last nine years, OSU has participated in the NCAA Championships, advancing to the national semifinals in 1991 and 1994. Stone’s coach career record includes three years at Wyoming (1979-1981). His 19-year career record is 426-208 (.672).
%^$REGIONAL AND LOCAL TV MATCHES SET
%^$The Buckeyes will have six matches broadcast locally, two regionally and one nationally during the season. Columbus Sports Network will broadcast two matches a month on tape delay with broadcast times to be determined. These matches include Marshall, Pittsburgh, Iowa, Michigan, Penn State (Nov. 11, replayed Nov. 12 & 13, 7 p.m.) and Indiana (Nov. 27, replayed Nov. 30 & Dec. 1, 7 p.m.). Fox Sports Chicago will broadcast OSU’s matches at Northwestern (Oct. 23) and vs. Purdue (Oct. 31) on tape delay the following Sunday at 5 p.m. Eastern. ESPN2 will carry the Ohio State at Michigan State match, moved to Sunday, Nov. 22, live that afternoon. Broadcast time is scheduled at 1:30 p.m.
%^$BUCKEYES TRAVEL UP NORTH NEXT WEEK
%^$Ohio State travel North to face Michigan on Friday, Nov. 20 and Michigan State on Sunday, Nov. 22 in a match televised live by ESPN2 at 1:30 p.m..
