Women’s Volleyball Defeats Ball State 3-1 In NCAA Tournament – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/1/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 1, 2000
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State (25-6 overall) defeated Ball State (25-7) 3-1 (16-14, 15-3, 14-16, 15-10) to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament Friday in St. John Arena. The Buckeyes will face Notre Dame (26-6), a 3-0 (15-2, 15-12, 15-10) winner over Cincinnati (24-10) Saturday at 7 p.m.
OSU’s Anne Botica (Jr., Windsor, Ont./St. Joseph) had a match-high 27 kills to lead the Buckeyes. The 27 kills tied her career high set at Wisconsin earlier this season. Also scoring in double figures for Ohio State were Suzie Stiling (So., Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) 17, Sue Calligaris (So., Palermo, Italy/Liceo Linguistico) 16, Dana Stearns (Sr., Bexley, Ohio/Bexley) 15 and Shelly Draeger (So., Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) 14. Megan Hammons had a team-high 17 kills for Ball State with Susie Meshberger adding 15 and Julie Zylka 12.
Ball State held leads of 6-2 and 9-3 in game one. Ohio State closed the gap to 9-7 and 11-9 before two Cardinal errors tied the game at 11. A Katie Virtue (So., St. Charles, Ill./St. Francis) ace for OSU and a Ball State error put OSU ahead 13-11. A Hammons kills cut the margin to 13-12 for the Buckeyes. A Cardinal error put OSU at game point, 14-12. Ball State held off three game points and with two OSU errors tied the game at 14. A Cardinal error and a Stiling kill ended the game at 16-14 for Ohio State.
Ohio State opened a 6-0 lead in game two. At 7-3 Ohio State, Calligaris served out the match with eight consecutive points coming off three Draeger kills, two by Stiling and three Ball State errors to end the game at 15-3. OSU held a 9-2 lead in game three but Ball State closed the margin to 9-5. With OSU ahead 11-5, BSU, with a kill by Zylka and an OSU error closed to 11-7. A Botica kill made it 12-7. Kills by Zylka and Hammons and three OSU errors tied the game at 12. A BSU error and a kill by Stearns set match point for OSU at 14-12. Ball State sided out and a Zylka kill made it 14-13. The Buckeyes had three more match points but failed to score before an ace by Jenna Foster tied the game at 14. A Hammons kill put Ball State ahead 15-14 and a Katie Butts kill ended the game, 16-14 for Ball State.
Ohio State opened game four with a 7-0 lead. With the Buckeyes ahead 10-6, two OSU errors and a Hammons ace cut the margin to 10-9. The Buckeyes went up 13-9 on kills by Draeger and Botica and a Cardinal error. Foster’s ace for Ball State cut the lead to 13-10, but a Botica kill set match point No. 5 for OSU at 14-10. The Cardinals held off match-points five and six before a Ball State error ended the game at 15-10.
For the match Ohio State hit .313 to .205 for Ball State. The Buckeyes had a 91-63 margin in kills and a 66-48 advantage in digs. Ball State outblocked Ohio State 15 to eight and had a seven to three edge in aces.
Ball State vs. Ohio State
Dec. 1, 2000
Ohio State Postgame quotes
Head Coach Jim Stone
Opening Statement:
“I knew going into the match that Ball State was good. They have dominated the MAC for so many years. We haven’t played them, yet we have kept track of them from a distance. I wasn’t surprised at all that they competed and they played as hard as they did. This is one of those matches where I knew going in it was going to be a tough match. We were prepared for that. In that regard, I was pleased our team competed as hard as they did.”
“We had a difficult time stopping No. 3 Susie Meshberger. We knew in advance that she was going to be hard to stop. The match went as I expected. We had times we could have closed it off and we didn’t. That part is disappointing. I think it’s more of a tribute to Ball State being so competitive and working so hard on the court. We expected a tough match and we got it. We are certainly happy we got a win and move on. We look forward to playing Notre Dame tomorrow.”
On the early play of Ohio State:
“I thought from our own team it’s like we played like we were on thin ice. We were waiting for something. Hopefully just first match jitters. I think we can play better. We certainly have to play better against Notre Dame tomorrow. I think we had a case of nerves.”
On how he deals with the team as a coach:
“I have battles with each side of my brain. I want to play great, but sometimes I have to say, ‘Hey, I have four sophomores out there.’ They are not going to play great out there all of the time. I have got a setter (Katie Virtue) that hasn’t practiced in six weeks. So, there’s going to be some miscommunication and our offense isn’t going to be real smooth. The logical part of me says we are going to make some mistakes. The coaching part of me says I don’t like that.”
On injured player Katie Virtue:
“I think she’s playing great. Again, she hasn’t practiced since the middle of October. The only thing she has done is play some matches here and there and ride a bicycle. I feel she is doing a phenomenal job given that situation. She’s competing hard. I know her foot hurts. My tip of my hat to her all the way.”
Senior Dana Sterns
On how it was good for Ohio State to get a 2-0 jump on Ball State:
“I think matches, being down 2-0, we know from last week obviously that any team can come back and win. We wanted to come out and play strong.”
“It’s disappointing, but we’re just very happy to win the game. Crazy things happen in a tournament. We came out to win and we won and we got the job done regardless of how many games it took.”
Sophomore Susie Stiling
On whether Ohio State was surprised by the play of Ball State:
“No. We pretty much scouted what they were going to do. A lot of the one-foot take-off in front of the setter, we’ve seen that before in some teams. I think we knew what we had to do it was just a matter of when we did it.”
On why Ball State wasn’t able to win tonight:
“When you win the first game, that’s where you get your energy. I don’t think our team was ready to go into the second game and that hurt us.”
Thoughts on the first game falling behind 9-2:
“I think we are a confident enough team that we knew we could come back from a deficit like that. We have done it before. I was just to see that we fought through it.”
Ball State vs. Ohio State
Dec. 1, 2000
Ball State Postgame quotes
Head Coach Randy Litchfield
Opening Statement:
“We have to be pretty proud of the way we played. We don’t come to lose these types of matches. I only find great satisfaction in winning.”
After falling 2-0 against Ohio State:
“It’s a tough job to come back after falling behind 2-0. I thought we played poor volleyball in the first game and through the end of the second. All year we have played like that (falling behind and fighting back) and usually it motivated us to do better.”
Junior Julie Zylka
On how hard it is to come back after falling behind:
“It was emotionally draining to fall behind two games to zero behind Ohio State. By the end of the second game we should of fell off. But I think we showed that we could play with a team like Ohio State.”
Junior Megan Hammons
On Ball State’s performance:
“We are a good team. I think we showed we could hang with a team like Ohio State. We wanted to come in and show that we could win. We just wanted to pull it off.”
On why Ball State wasn’t able to win tonight:
“When you win the first game, that’s where you get your energy. I don’t think our team was ready to go into the second game and that hurt us.”
Notre Dame Advances To Second Round With Three Game Victory Over Cincinnati
Irish setter Denise Boylan notches 52 assists and 13 digs while helping four Notre Dame hitters post double-digit kills.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – (12-1-00) The University of Notre Dame volleyball team (26-6) advanced to the second round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament with a 3-0 victory (15-2, 15-12, 15-10) over Cincinnati (24-10) at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio, Friday evening. The Irish will meet the winner of the Ohio State – Ball State match, which was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., local time. Junior opposite Kristy Kreher’s (Birmingham, Mich.) 16 kills (on .556 hitting) was the top mark on the team and the Irish were led by the dependable ball control of senior setter Denise Boylan (Lisle, Ill.). Boylan registered 52 assists and 13 digs in the match while helping the Irish post a .347 hitting percentage. Boylan also helped diversify the Irish offense, as four Notre Dame hitters compiled double-digit kills in the match. Along with Kreher, senior Christi Girton (Muncie, Ind.) and juniors Marcie Bomhack (Waukesha, Wis.) and Malinda Goralski (Missouri City, Texas) had 13, 12, and 15 kills, respectively.
The Irish came out red hot in the first game of the match, jumping out to a 9-1 lead within a few minutes. Two kills from Girton, along with two blocks and a kill from Goralski contributed to the Notre Dame advantage. The two Bearcat points came on the only Irish hitting errors of the game, as Notre Dame posted a .533 hitting percentage in the game and earned an easy 15-2 victory.
“We played very strong in game one,” Irish head coach Debbie Brown said during her post game comments.
“They (Cincinnati) showed some different looks with their blocking and we were able to take advantage of it.”
Notre Dame seemed destined to coast through game two as well until the Bearcat offense woke up. The Irish jumped ahead 11-4, but Cincinnati’s Shauntel Miller heated up. After only managing two kills in the first game of the match, Miller smacked nine on 13 attempts in the second game to lead a furious Bearcat rally. Two Irish hitting errors contributed to a four-point run by Cinncinnati to cut the lead down to 11-8.
Bomhack temporarily stopped the Bearcat run with a kill and an ace to push the Irish ahead 13-8, but Cincinnati would not go quietly. Another series of kills from Miller cut the Notre Dame advantage to 13-12 and the Bearcats had the momentum on their side. After an Irish timeout, a kill by Bomhack helped Notre Dame gain the serve and Girton recorded her first ace of the match. After another exchange of serves, Keara Coughlin (Chicago, Ill.) subbed in and smacked her 26th ace of the season to win the game for Notre Dame and provide her team a 2-0 in the match.
A quick look at the statistics told the story of the second game. Cincinnati was able to hold the Irish offense to .284 hitting, while rebounding from its -.290 mark in the first game to hit .362 in the second.
The Bearcats continued their solid play in the third game of the match, building a 4-0 lead. Notre Dame would rally behind Kreher, who has a history of top performances in NCAA tournament games. Her 24 kills in both the Eastern Washington (1998) and Ohio State (1999) tournament matches are among the top five Irish performances in post season play history. As Notre Dame fell behind in game three, Brown knew that they had to set the ball towards the Irish opposite.
“Cincinnati played differently in games two and three,” Brown said.
“We had to step up and adjust. I thought we got stuck setting wide too much in game two. They (Cincinnati) had built some momentum and we needed to respond. I also thought we needed to set Kreher more, since we got away from doing that a bit in the second game.”
Kreher would respond, dominating game three with eight kills, three digs, two blocks and an ace.
“Tournament games just mean more than anything else,” Kreher said after the game.
“You know it is time to give that little extra push.”
Kreher’s push would lead the Irish back into the game, as Notre Dame rattled off 12 of the next 16 points in the game to build a 12-8 advantage. She also fittingly finished the match off with a kill to earn Notre Dame a 15-10 game victory and the right to move on to the second round.
“We are excited to be moving on,” Brown said.
“I think the team played well and this is the level of performance that we need at this time of the year.”
Volleyball Box Score 2000 Ohio State Women’s Volleyball Cincinnati vs Notre Dame (Dec 01, 2000 at Columbus, Ohio)
Cincinnati | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE —————————————————————————– 4 Lauder, Laura……. 3| 0 0 3 .000| 42| 1 0| 0| 6| 0 0 0| 1 7 Wise, Bonita…….. 3| 10 4 29 .207| 0| 0 1| 0| 4| 0 2 2| 0 10 Meinig, Stephanie… 3| 6 3 16 .188| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 2 0| 0 11 Miller, Shauntel…. 3| 15 6 41 .220| 0| 0 0| 0| 4| 0 1 0| 0 12 Ladusaw, Trish…… 3| 10 4 25 .240| 1| 0 1| 5| 21| 0 1 0| 0 15 Newell, Leslie…… 3| 7 3 17 .235| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 2 0| 1 2 Beran, Rachel……. 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 1 1| 2| 5| 0 0 0| 0 5 Kirchenwitz, Tobi… 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 0 0| 0 9 Grooms, Ashley…… 3| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 7| 0 0 0| 0 TEAM……………. | | | | 2| | | —————————————————————————– Totals………….. 3| 48 20 131 .214| 44| 2 4| 9| 53| 0 8 2| 2
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 8 9 34 -.029 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS 2 21 4 47 .362 Cincinnati………. 2 12 10 24-10 3 19 7 50 .240 Notre Dame………. 15 15 15 26-6
Notre Dame | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE —————————————————————————– 2 Boylan, Denise…… 3| 2 1 5 .200| 52| 1 2| 0| 13| 0 1 0| 0 3 Goralski, Malinda… 3| 15 2 30 .433| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 2 4 1| 1 4 Kreher, Kristy…… 3| 16 1 27 .556| 1| 1 3| 0| 7| 0 3 0| 1 6 Bomhack, Marcie….. 3| 12 2 36 .278| 0| 1 3| 0| 9| 1 3 1| 0 7 Girton, Christi….. 3| 13 5 35 .229| 0| 2 3| 2| 6| 0 1 0| 1 14 Alderete, Janie….. 3| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 3 0| 0| 10| 0 0 0| 0 9 Jameyson, Jo…….. 3| 6 2 13 .308| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 1 4 0| 0 10 Fletcher, Kim……. 1| 2 0 3 .667| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0 11 Coughlin, Keara….. 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 1 0| 0| 6| 0 0 0| 0 —————————————————————————– Totals………….. 3| 66 14 150 .347| 55| 9 11| 2| 51| 4 16 2| 3
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 18 2 30 .533 Site: Columbus, Ohio (St. John Arena) 2 26 7 67 .284 Date: Dec 01, 2000 Attend: 807 Time: 1:34 3 22 5 53 .321 Referees: Kathy Ferraraccio, Joel Reinford
Notre Dame vs. Cincinnati
Dec. 1, 2000
Notre Dame Postgame quotes
Head Coach Debbie Brown
On Notre Dame’s performance in the first round:
“We’re very excited to come away with a win and to be able to move to the next round. I think the team played well. Game one was very strong. I thought Cincinnati came out and played a lot differently in games two and three and pushed us and we had to respond.”
“Overall it was good and I was particularly pleased with our offense. I thought Denise (Boylan) did a good job of spreading the ball around. This is the way we want to be playing at this time of year.”
“Again, we are excited to be continuing our season and look forward to whomever we may be playing tomorrow night.”
Senior Denise Boylan
Were you surprised by the tough performance of Cincinnati?
“A little. I think there were more than a couple opportunities in game one to run a better offense. I think they (Cincinnati) did a couple of things, switched up their blocking a little bit and we were able to take advantage of a little bit more. They it switched back in the second and third games so the opportunities were not there.”
Senior Christi Girton
On the performance of Notre Dame:
“Being a senior and this being my last (NCAA) tournament there is a little more excitement. We got knocked out in the first round last year and practicing all spring and this fall we did not want that ti happen again.”
“In the tournament it means just that much more. I don’t think any of us try to play better just at the end of the season. We want to play well all year round but because it is the end of the season it means just that much more.”
Notre Dame vs. Cincinnati
Dec. 1, 2000
Cincinnati Postgame quotes
Head Coach Reed Sunahara
Opening Statement:
“I thought we came out swinging. Notre Dame was a good team. We tried our best”
On making it to the first round of the NCAA tournament:
“We had worked on getting ready for this type of game all year. We have a good group of kids on our team who worked really hard all year. We sometimes started out slow and tonight we started out slow. You can’t do that against teams like Notre Dame.”
On his team’s chances of coming back next year:
“We’ll be back next year. I told our team that I was proud of them. I think it was unfortunate for our two seniors (Stephanie Meinig and Shauntel Miller). But, we have a lot of underclassmen that will be back next year.”
On why the team wasn’t able to pull out the win:
“Our three freshmen have never been to a tournament like this. We had the slow start and we can’t do that. After looking at the stats, we should have been able to win the next two games (with the hitting percentages). Now the team knows what it takes to make it to this tournament. They played with a lot of heart out there.”
On the impact of the Cincinnati’s two seniors:
“They meant a lot. Shauntel played well this year, while Stephanie stepped in and overcame an injury early in the season. Stephanie was a warrior. They are both one reason why we made it this far.”
Sophomore Trish Ladusaw
On her role in the game:
“Obviously, they (Notre Dame) came after us in the first game. During the second game I knew it could be our last match if we didn’t win. My job was to help the team out and we couldn’t do it.”
Senior Stephanie Meinig
The difference between game one and two:
“(During the second game) we talked in the huddle about how we needed to calm down and play our side. Once we started coming back in the game, it made us confident. That’s a nice part of the game.”
