Women’s Volleyball Plays At Michigan and Michigan State – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 23, 2003
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State (6-2) opens the Big Ten Conference play this weekend with a pair of matches in the state of Michigan. The Buckeyes face Michigan (8-3) at 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 26 in Ann Arbor and then play Michigan State (8-2) at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27 in East Lansing. Internet broadcasts of both matches will be available on the opponent websites: http://www.mgoblue.com/ and /. Last week Ohio State won 3-1 (22-30, 30-24, 30-17, 30-21) at Miami and 3-0 (30-26, 30-25, 30-27) against Bowling Green.
A LOOK AT OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes, coached by Jim Stone, have an overall record of 6-2. OSU won matches last week against Miami (OH), 3-1, and Bowling Green, 3-0. 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 6.25 kills, .62 aces and 3.72 digs per game. Amanda Miller (So., Littleton, Colo.) ranks second in kills at 3.06. Starting at setter is Briana McCarthy (Fr., Beaver Dam, Wis.). She has a 9.44 assist per game average. At the net, D’wan Shackleford (5th-year senior, Newark, Ohio) has a team-high 1.47 blocks per game with seven solos and 40 assists. McCarthy ranks second at 1.03 (1-32) with Katherine Grant (So., Nashville, Tenn.) third at 1.00 (0-32). At libero, Anna Tengnas (Fr., Torsaberga, Sweden) has 2.61 digs per game average. As a team, Ohio State is hitting .230 and averaging 16.16 kills per game. The Buckeyes average 1.41 aces, 13.50 digs and 2.91 blocks per game. OSU opponents are hitting .167 and average 11.94 kills per game. Opponents average 1.06 aces, 11.53 digs and 3.08 blocks per game. A LOOK AT MICHIGAN
The Wolverines, coached by Mark Rosen, are 8-3 overall. Michigan defeated Central Michigan, 3-0 (30-17, 34-32, 30-16) and Valparaiso, 3-1 (30-25, 30-18, 28-30, 33-31) last weekend. The Wolverines have won five straight matches over the last two weeks. Michigan’s Erin Moore leads the team in kills per game with a 4.21 average. Jennifer Gandolph ranks second at 3.90. At setter Lisa Gamalski has a 12.67 assist per game average. Leading the team in ace serves is Erin Cobler with 10 (.48 per game). Defensively, Gandolph is the team leader in digs per game at 3.51. Sarah Allen is second at 2.69. At the net, Megan Bowman is the top blocker on the squad with a 1.43 per game average on four solos and 46 assists. Moore ranks second at 1.26 (3-46) with Cobler third at 1.14 (3-21). Michigan is hitting .250 and averages 16.18 kills per game. The Wolverines average 1.08 aces, 13.85 digs and 2.96 blocks per game. UM opponents are hitting .177 and average 13.74 kills per game. Opponents average .82 aces, 13.62 digs and 2.08 blocks per game.
OSU SERIES WITH MICHIGAN
Ohio State leads the series with Michigan, 39-10. The Buckeyes have won 16 of 21 matches played in Ann Arbor, 20 of 22 in Columbus and three of six at neutral sites. Last season, the squads split the two conference matches. The Spartans won 3-0 (30-21, 30-25, 30-28) in Ann Arbor while Ohio State won 3-1 (28-30, 30-20, 30-20, 30-28) in Columbus.
A LOOK AT MICHIGAN STATE
The Spartans, coached by Chuck Erbe, are 8-2 overall. Michigan State has won its last three matches, including two last weekends. The Spartans defeated San Diego, 3-1 (28-30, 30-21, 30-28, 30-28) and American, 3-1 (30-19, 30-22, 34-36, 30-26) over the past weekend. MSU has two players averaging over 4.00 kills per game. Leading the team is Kim Schram at 4.42 per game with Jenny Rood second at 4.05. At setter, Nikki Colson has a 13.78 assist per game average. Megan Wallin has a team-high eight ace serves (.28). Defensively, Marley Bellwood leads the team in digs with a 3.39 average. Colson ranks second at 3.00. At the net, Rood has a 1.35 blocks per game average on 12 solos and 38 assists. Brooks Langston ranks second in average at .73 (0-11). The Spartans are hitting .288 and average 17.16 kills per game. MSU averages 1.00 aces, 15.57 digs and 2.55 blocks per game. Michigan State opponents are hitting .212 and average 15.05 kills per game. Spartan opponents average 1.24 aces, 13.89 digs and 1.74 blocks per game.
OSU SERIES WITH MICHIGAN STATE
Ohio State leads the series with Michigan State, 31-22. In East Lansing, OSU has won 13 of 25 contests. The Buckeyes have won 16 of 22 contests in Columbus and two of six at neutral sites. In the two matches last season, OSU lost 3-2 (27-30, 30-23, 29-30, 30-26, 15-17) in East Lansing and won 3-1 (30-25, 29-31, 30-17, 30-18) in Columbus.
McCARTHY CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
Briana McCarthy has continued to handle the setting duties for the Buckeyes. Averaging 9.44 assists per game, McCarthy has helped her team by improving her play in other areas. Against Miami, she posted a career-high hitting percentage of .545 with six kills with no errors on 11 attempts. In the Bowling Green match, McCarthy recorded a career-high eight assist blocks against the Falcons. She is averaging 1.31 kills and 1.03 blocks per game for the season. She has 302 career assists and ranks 15th on the OSU career list, needing 12 to pass No. 14 Gabriele Jobst (1991-94). Ahead of her is No. 13 Robin Bock (1996) with 365 and No. 12 Lisa Vitali (1986-88) with 370.
MILLER RECORDS CAREER-HIGH ATTACK PERCENTAGE
With eight kills, two errors in 12 attempts, Amanda Miller hit .500 against Bowling Green Saturday to set a new career high. Her previous best mark was .395 against Ball State when she had a career-high 20 kills with three errors in 43 attempts.
GRANT POSTS CAREER-HIGH .421 HITTING PERCENTAGE
Katherine Grant hit .421 at Miami to establish a new career-high. Against the Falcons, she had 11 kills with three errors in 19 attempts. Her previous best was against Ball State when she hit .417 with 14 kills, four errors in 24 attempts.
SHACKLEFORD BLOCKS TO A CAREER-HIGH
With nine total blocks against Bowling Green, D’wan Shackleford established a new career high with two solo blocks and a career-high seven assist blocks against the Falcons. Shackleford is the team leader in blocking with a 1.47 blocks per game average. For the season she has seven solo and 40 assist blocks.
WHALEN PLAYING OFFENSE AND DEFENSE
After starting at setter in the first two matches of the season, Heather Whalen (Sr., Kalamazoo, Mich.) has settled in as an outside hitter. She is currently third on the squad in kills per game at 2.06 and is third in digs at 2.12.
TENGNAS PROVIDES LIBERO DEFENSE
Libero Anna Tengnas produced her fourth double-figure dig match of the season when she recorded 12 digs at Miami. She had a career-high 17 against Rice adding 15 against Ball State and 10 vs. Cleveland State. Tengnas ranks second on the squad with a 2.61 digs per game average.
KASTEIN HELPING IN THE BACK ROW
Rebecca Kastein (So., Mt. Lebanon, Pa.), as a backrow defensive specialist has produced a streak of four matches with 10 digs in each. At Brigham Young, she began her run of 10-dig matches against Brigham Young and Rice. Last week she continued the string at Miami and against Bowling Green. Kastein is averaging 2.00 digs per game on the season.
GORDON’S BIG NUMBERS CONTINUE
OSU’s Stacey Gordon continues to lead the Buckeyes in three categories. She leads the team in kills per game at 6.25, aces at .62 per game and digs at 3.72 per game. She has had double-figure kills and digs in every match this season. Gordon currently has a double-figure kill streak of 56 matches and has produced double-figure kills in 69 of 71 career matches.
GORDON NOW THIRD IN CAREER KILLS, NEEDS 16 TO REACH NO. 2
With her 23 kills at Miami and 19 against Brigham Young, Stacey Gordon has moved from seventh to third on the Ohio State career kills list. She now has 1,448 career kills. Gordon, with 42 kills in the two matches last week passed No. 6 Vanessa Wouters (1996-97) with 1,409 kills, No. 5 Leisa Wissler (1988-91) with 1,428, No. 4 Gabrielle Jobst (1991-94) with 1,434 and No. 3 Lisa Bettio (1982-85) with 1,442. Gordon needs 16 kills to move past No. 2 Jenny Jackson (1992-95) with 1,463. She now stands 355 kills behind all-time career leader Holly O’Leary (1987-90) with 1,802.
GORDON NOW 20TH IN CAREER ACES AND DIGS
With three aces at Miami and 14 digs against Bowling Green, OSU’s Stacey Gordon moved into 20th place on the OSU career list in both categories. She now has 100 aces and 861 digs.
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 6.25, is second in aces at .62 and third in digs at 3.72. Other Buckeyes ranked are D’wan Shackleford in blocking at second with a 1.47 per game average and setter Briana McCarthy ranked 11th at 9.44 assists per game and 11th in blocking at 1.03 per game. Katherine Grant is the third Buckeye ranked in the top 13 in blocking with a 1.00 per game average..
GORDON SECOND NATIONALLY IN KILLS PER GAME
In the NCAA national statistics based on matches up to Sunday, Sept. 14, Stacey Gordon was ranked second in the country with a 6.32 kills per game average. Including last week Gordon is averaging 6.25 kills per game. The national statistics are released midweek.
GORDON SCORES SECOND “10” THIS SEASON
Twice this season, Stacey Gordon has scored a “10”. That is she has recorded 10 kills in a single game. In the fourth game against Miami, Gordon had 10 kills while hitting .500. She also had four of her six blocks in the game. Previously, Gordon had 10 kills in the fourth game against Temple where she hit .571 in the game with two errors in 14 attempts..
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 the home portion of the Big Ten season with contests against Indiana and Purdue. OSU hosts Indiana at 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 3 and Purdue at 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 4.
