No. 9 Volleyball Defeats Michigan, 3-1 – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 17, 2001%^$
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%^$%^$Final Stats%^$%^$
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – %^$Ninth-ranked Ohio State (23-3 overall, 15-3 Big Ten), saw Canadians Anne Botica (Sr., Windsor, Ontario) and Stacey Gordon (Fr., Oshawa, Ontario) combine for 53 kills in a 3-1 (30-13, 30-25, 26-30, 30-19) victory over Michigan (12-13, 8-10) in front of a season-high home crowd of 2,018.. Gordon’s match-high 29 kills (.349) fell one shy of her career record of 30 set at Purdue earlier this season, while Botica’s 24 kills (.465) equaled her season high that was set against Wisconsin. Shelly Draeger (Jr., Milwaukee, Wis.) contributed a season-high 14 kills (.400) for the Buckeyes. Michigan’s Carrie Ritchie scored a team-high 10 kills (.280) for the Wolverines with Erin Moore adding nine (.174).%^$
%^$Ohio State broke a three-all tie in game one with back-to-back kills by Botica. Two Michigan errors and a Gordon kill opened a 9-4 Buckeye lead. At 9-5, two Gordon kills and one from Botica pushed the lead to 12-5. At 13-8, a UM error, a block by Suzie Stiling (Jr., Glenview, Ill.) and Draeger, a ace by Nikki Cisco (Sr., Dublin, Ohio) and two Draeger kills opened an 18-8 OSU lead. The Buckeyes continued to build on the lead and a Gordon ace ended the game at 30-13. Ohio State hit .613 to .034 for Michigan.%^$
%^$Michigan tied game two at 10 on a Katrina Lehman kill. A Draeger kill and three from Stiling opened a 14-10 OSU lead. The run was stopped by an OSU error (14-11). Two Botica kills, an OSU error and a Stiling kill made it 17-12. At 18-13, Michigan cut the lead to 18-16 with kills by Shannon Melka and Moore and an OSU error. At 20-18, a kill by Nicole Poquette and a Buckeye error tied the game at 20. Tied at 22, OSU ran the next five points with kills by Gordon and Botica and three Michigan errors. A Gordon kill set game point at 29-24 but an OSU error made it 29-25. Erin Baker (Sr., Elmhurst, Ill) scored game point on a kill at 30-25. The Buckeyes hit .277 to .179 for the Wolverines.%^$
%^$Michigan trailed 18-17 when an OSU error tied the game at 18. An OSU error and a kill by Jennifer Gandolph put Michigan ahead, 20-18. Michigan held the lead, winning 30-26, on a Gandolph kill. OSU hit .260 to UM’s .250.%^$
%^$The Buckeyes opened game four with a 5-0 run off kills by Baker, Gordon and Stiling, a solo block by Stiling and a UM error. Kills by Gandolph and Ritchie cut the margin to 5-2, but two UM errors and a Botica kill opened a 7-2 OSU lead. The Buckeye continued to build its lead and with a Botica kill ended the game at 30-19. The Buckeyes hit .406 for the game to .138 for the Wolverines.%^$
%^$Ohio State outhit Michigan, .363 to .158. The Buckeyes had a 78-42 advantage in kills. OSU had a 60-44 edge in digs with Stiling and Gordon collecting a match-high 13 each. UM’s Melka had a match-high 13 with Nicole Kacor adding 10. The Buckeyes had a 10-8 edge in blocks with OSU’s Baker and Michigan’s Poquette and Moore sharing match-high honors with five assist blocks each. OSU had a 4-3 edge in aces, but had 17 service errors to nine for Michigan.%^$
%^$The Buckeye complete the regular season with two road matches. OSU travels to Minnesota Friday, Nov. 23 and then plays at Iowa, Saturday, Nov. 24.
