Women’s Volleyball Plays At Miami, Hosts Bowling Green – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 16, 2003
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State closes out the non-conference portion of its schedule with two matches against Mid-American Conference teams this week. The Buckeyes (4-2) will travel to Oxford, Ohio for a 7 p.m., Wednesday match against Miami (OH) (4-6). OSU then hosts Bowling Green (6-3) at 7 p.m. Saturday in St. John Arena. Last week the Buckeyes won two of three matches. OSU defeated Cleveland State, 3-1, and Rice, 3-2, and lost to Brigham Young, 1-3.
A LOOK AT OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes, coached by Jim Stone, have an overall record of 4-2. OSU won 3-1 (30-16, 27-30, 30-27, 30-10) over Cleveland State in a mid-week contest. Ohio State then played in the Mizuno Classic in Provo, Utah. The Buckeyes fell 1-3 (34-32, 28-30, 23-30, 26-30) to Brigham Young on Friday and defeated Rice, 3-2 (30-21, 27-30, 21-30, 30-27, 15-12), Saturday. Ohio State’s top student-athlete is 2002 first team American Volleyball Coaches Association All-American Stacey Gordon (Jr., Oshawa, Ontario). Gordon has team highs of 6.32 kills, .68 aces and 3.76 digs per game. Amanda Miller (So., Littleton, Colo.) ranks second in kills at 3.16. Starting at setter for the last four matches is Briana McCarthy (Fr., Beaver Dam, Wis.) She has a 8.47 assist per game average. At the net, D’wan Shackleford (5th-year senior, Newark, Ohio) has a team-high 1.36 blocks per game with four solos and 30 assists. McCarthy and Katherine Grant (So., Nashville, Tenn.) rank second with a .96 block per game mark. McCarthy has one solo and 23 assists while Grant has 24 assists. At libero, Anna Tengnas (Fr., Torsaberga, Sweden) has 2.62 digs per game average. As a team, Ohio State is hitting .217 and averaging 16.20 kills per game. The Buckeyes average 1.48 aces, 13.40 digs and 2.70 blocks per game. OSU opponents are hitting .176 and average 12.24 kills per game. Opponents average 1.08 aces, 11.84 digs and 3.34 blocks per game.
A LOOK AT MIAMI
The RedHawks, coached by Carolyn Condit, are 4-6 on the season. Miami lost three of four home matches last week. The RedHawks lost 0-3 (25-30, 20-30, 27-30) to Butler, 0-3 (23-30, 22-30, 26-30) to Cincinnati and 1-3 (30-20, 29-31, 29-31, 31-33) to Eastern Kentucky and then defeated Hofstra 3-1 (25-30, 30-11, 30-26, 30-17). Tara Buroker is the top hitter for Miami with a 3.58 kills per game average. Second is Angie Zent at 2.76. At setter, Melinda McCormick has a 9.17 assist per game average with Megan Clark averaging 7.41. Zent is the top server on the squad with 19 aces (.56). Defensively, Suzy Wolford leads the team in digs with a 3.62 per game. At the net, Lauren Slusser has a team-high 23 total blocks with two solos and 21 assists for a .64 per game average. Second is Buroker with 19 blocks (6-13) with a .53 average. Miami is hitting .201 and averages 14.41 kills per game. The RedHawks average 2.32 aces, 14.08 digs and 1.91 blocks per game. Opponents are hitting .221 and average 14.38 kills per game. Miami opponents average 1.32 aces, 13.70 digs and 2.55 blocks per game.
OSU SERIES WITH MIAMI
Ohio State has a 9-3 margin in the series with Miami. OSU has won the last three meetings. The last contest was a 3-1 victory in Columbus in 2002. The RedHawks have won the only two meetings played in Oxford.
A LOOK AT BOWLING GREEN
The Falcons, coached by Denise Van De Walle, are 6-3 on the season. Last weekend Bowling Green won two of three matches at home. The Falcons defeated West Virginia, 3-0 (30-22, 30-26, 30-23), lost to Murray State 3-0 (25-30, 11-30, 32-34) and defeated Iowa State, 3-2 (30-24, 30-28, 29-31, 28-30, 15-8). Bowling Green will host Oakland Tuesday and Valparaiso Wednesday prior to playing the Buckeyes Saturday. Prior to the matches this week, the Falcons have three players averaging 3.00 kills per game or better. They include Taylor Twite (3.79), Susie Norris (3.28) and Samantha Rennau (3.06). Amber Mareski (8.03 assists per game) and Sara Sikorski (6.15) have shared the setting duties. Norris is the top server on the squad with 18 aces (.50 per game). Defensively, Norris is the team leader in digs with a 3.78 per game average. Chrissy Gothke ranks second at 3.77. At the net, Melissa Mohr is the top blocker on the squad with a 1.14 blocks per game average with eight solos and 33 assists. Twite ranks second at .97 with nine solos and 24 assists. Bowling Green is hitting .231 as a team and averages 15.75 kills per game. The Falcons average 1.25 aces, 16.00 digs and 2.36 blocks per game. BG opponents are hitting .212 and average 14.75 kills per game. Opponents average 1.92 aces, 15.31 digs and 2.44 blocks per game.
OSU SERIES WITH BOWLING GREEN
Ohio State has won all eight meetings with Bowling Green. The squads last played in 1983, a 3-2 Ohio State win in Columbus.
GORDON CONTINUES HOT HAND
OSU’s Stacey Gordon continues to be the go-to player for the Buckeyes. In three matches last week, she averaged 6.62 kills and 4.31 digs per game. For the week, Gordon had 32 kills and 21 digs against Cleveland State, 22 kills and 21 digs at Brigham Young and 32 kills and 14 digs against Rice. She has had 21 or more kills in each of the six matches this season and 10 or more kills. Her streak of consecutive double-figure kill matches is now 54 and she has had 67 of 69 matches with double-figure kills.
GORDON NOW SEVENTH IN CAREER KILLS, MOVES CLOSER TO SIXTH
With her 22 kills against Brigham Young, Stacey Gordon has moved to seventh on the Ohio State career kills list. She equaled her season-high of 32 kills against Rice to have 1,406 career kills. She passed former teammate Suzie Stiling (1999-2002) who finished with 1,369 kills to move to seventh. Gordon needs only four kills to move to sixth, currently held by Vanessa Wouters (1996-97) who has 1,409 kills. She stands 23 kills to pass No. 5 Leisa Wissler (1988-91) with 1,428, 29 to pass No. 4 Gabrielle Jobst (1991-94) with 1,434 and 37 to pass No. 3 Lisa Bettio (1982-85) with 1,442.
McCARTHY SETTLES IN AT SETTER
After starting at outside setter in the first two matches of the season, Briana McCarthy now has four consecutive starts at setter. She picked up career-highs of 10 digs and six total blocks (1-5) against Cleveland State last week. In OSU’s come-from-behind win over Rice, McCarthy produced career-high of eight kills and 66 assists in the match. She has an overall average of 8.48 assists per game but in the last four matches has averaged 12.35 per game.
MILLER CONTRIBUTES TO RICE WIN
With 15 kills in the Rice contest, Amanda Miller helped the Buckeyes defeat Rice, 3-2. It was Miller’s second best performance of the season. She had a career-high 20 kills against Ball State.
GRANT BLOCKS FOR RICE WIN
Katherine Grant (So., Nashville, Tenn.) teamed up with Stacey Gordon for blocks against Rice in the fifth game with the score, 13-12, OSU. She made contact on both plays to secure OSU’s 3-2 win over the Owls. For the match, Grant equaled her career-high of six assist blocks that she set against Temple. She also had nine kills in the contest, her second best performance of the season. She posted a career-high 14 kills against Ball State.
SHACKLEFORD CONTINUES AS TOP BLOCKER
With a 1.36 blocks per game average, D’wan Shackleford remains the top blocker for the Buckeyes. She has four solos and 30 assists on the season. She equaled her career high block total twice last week with seven blocks against Cleveland State (2-5) and Rice (1-6). Shackleford is using her fifth-year of eligibility with the volleyball team after a four-year career with OSU’s women’s basketball team. Until now, she had not played volleyball since her sophomore year in high school
WHALEN SETTLES IN ON THE OUTSIDE
After starting the first two matches at setter, Heather Whalen (Sr., Kalamazoo, Mich.) now has started the last four matches at outside hitter. Last week at the Mizuno Classic, Whalen put together back-to-back double-figure kill matches. She had a career-high 16 kills against Brigham Young and added 12 kills in the Rice match and added a season-high 14 digs. Whalen ranks third on the squad in kills with a 2.12 per game average.
TENGNAS SETS CAREER-HIGH AGAINST RICE
Libero Anna Tengnas produced a career-high 17 digs against Rice in OSU’s 3-2 victory. Her previous high was 15 against Ball State. It marked her third game with double-figure digs. She collected 10 against Cleveland State.
KASTEIN DIGS DOUBLE 10s
Rebecca Kastein (So., Mt. Lebanon, Pa.) produced back-to-back matches with a season-high 10 digs each at the Mizuno Classic. She had double-figure digs (10) against both Brigham Young and Rice.
GORDON TOPS IN KILLS IN BIG TEN STATISTICS
In the overall statistics released by the Big Ten Conference this week, Stacey Gordon leads the conference in kills per game at 6.32, is second in aces at .68 and third in digs at 3.76. Other Buckeyes ranked are D’wan Shackleford in blocking at fifth with a 1.36 per game average and setter Briana McCarthy is ranked 11th at 8.48 assists per game.
GORDON SEVENTH NATIONALLY IN KILLS PER GAME
In the NCAA national statistics based on matches up to Sunday, Sept. 7, Stacey Gordon was ranked seventh in the country with a 6.00 kills per game average. Including last week Gordon is averaging 6.32 kills per game. The national statistics are released midweek.
OSU HAS THREE BIG TEN CONFERENCE TV APPEARANCES
The Big Ten announced its television schedule for women’s volleyball on both ESPN2 and FOX Sports Chicago. Ohio State will play in three of the scheduled 10 matches. OSU will face defending Big Ten champion Minnesota in one of three matches carried by ESPN2. The Saturday, Nov. 29 match in Minneapolis will be shown at 2 p.m. ET, Sunday, Nov. 30. The Buckeyes also will face the Gophers in St. John Arena Friday, Oct. 17 in a FOX Sports Chicago match to be shown at 4 p.m. ET, Sunday, Oct. 19. Ohio State’s third match is at Wisconsin, Saturday, Oct. 25. FOX Sports Chicago will carry it at 4 p.m. ET, Sunday, Oct. 26.
NEXT FOR THE BUCKEYES
Ohio State opens Big Ten Conference play in the state of Michigan. The Buckeyes play at Michigan at 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 26 and then face Michigan State at 8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 27.
