18th-Ranked Women’s Volleyball Sweeps Pittsburgh – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/15/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 15, 1999
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The 18th ranked Ohio State (4-1) women’s volleyball team needed only 66 minutes to defeat the Panthers of Pittsburgh 15-0, 15-5, 15-10 Wednesday night in Fitzgerald Field House. Buckeyes Rosie Snow and Dana Stearns shared match-high kill honors with 13 each while Pittsburgh native Jen Flynn added 10 kills and a match-high 11 digs. Pitt’s Jennifer Nickels had a team-high seven kills for the Panthers with Stacy Renick adding six.
The Buckeyes blanked the Panthers in game one allowing Pitt only 10 serves in the game. OSU scored the first nine points off eight Pittsburgh errors and an ace serve by OSU’s Jen Flynn. After several sideouts, Ohio State scored six consecutive points to take the game 15-0. OSU put together three kills by Rosie Snow, two from Suzie Stiling and one from Flynn for the six-point run. The Buckeyes hit .571 for the game, having only three errors while Pitt hit -.077.
Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead in game two off an OSU hitting error. OSU took a 2-1 lead on a Jen Flynn and and an ace serve by Flynn. Ahead 3-2, the Buckeyes scored points on two Shelly Draeger kills, and kills by Dana Stearns and Suzie Stiling. Stiling also added an ace serve in the to push the lead to 7-2. OSU’s hitting errors cut the lead to 7-4, but a Rosie Snow kill, a block by Katie Virtue and Stiling and a Pitt error pushed the OSU lead to 10-4. A Pitt hitting error, Kills by Stearns and Snow and an ace by Brianne Spiers pushed the lead to 14-5. Angelee Abbring’s kill finished of the game at 15-5. OSU hit .382 in the game to .120 for Pitt.
Two kills by Rosie Snow and one by Jen Flynn and a Pitt ball handling error put OSU up 4-0 in game three. At 4-1 OSU added points on kills by Katie Virtue and Snow to make the score 6-1. OSU’s Dana Stearns’ kill put OSU up 7-3. Pitt then outscored OSU 4-1 with kills by Tari Boutin, Carrie Norris and Jenna Birkel and an OSU hitting error to close to within one at 8-7. A Pitt ball handling error made the lead two at 9-7, but an OSU hitting error closed the gap to 9-8. The Buckeyes expanded the lead to 11-8 on a kill by Sue Calligaris and a block by Suzie Stiling and Calligaris. Two OSU hitting errors cut the Buckeye lead to 11-10, but a Pitt error and an Angelee Abbring kill put OSU up 13-10. OSU’s Calligaris hit an ace serve to set up match point at 14-10 and a Pitt error ended the game in favor of OSU, 15-10. The Buckeyes hit .389 for the game to .344 for Pittsburgh.
The Buckeyes outhit the Panthers .429 to .145 in the match. OSU had a 42 to 14 advantage in digs and scored seven aces to one for Pitt. Pittsburgh did outblock the Buckeyes five to two.
OSU’s blanking of Pittsburgh in game one was the first time since early in the 1997 season went OSU put a 15-0 game two blanking on Tennessee at the Arby’s Invitational in Lincoln, Neb. That was sixty matches ago.
Buckeye Rosie Snow, with 13 kills tonight, extended her streak of double-figure kill matches to 26. She now 41 double-figure kill matches in her career.
Ohio State, after five consecutive road matches, will host Boise State (2-5) in the OSU home opener on Friday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. in St. John Arena. The Buckeyes will then face Temple (3-2) Sunday at 3 p.m.
