20th Ranked Women’s Volleyball Downs Illinois State, 3-0 – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 20th-ranked Ohio State (6-1) women’s volleyball team, with four players with double-figure points, defeated Illinois State (8-3), 3-0 (32-30, 30-22, 30-12) Tuesday night in Redbird Arena. OSU’s Briana McCarthy (Sr., Beaver Dam, Wis.) scored a match/season-high 18 points against the Redbirds. Teammate Danielle Meyer (Sr., Cincinnati, Ohio) added 17.5, Ami Stevens (Sr., Centerburg, Ohio) 13.5 and Katie Dull (Fr., Solon, Ohio) 11.5 points. McCarthy posted 15 kills, two ace serves and two assist blocks with Meyer adding a match-high 16 kills and three assist blocks. Stevens, in her first start of the season at outside hitter, had 12 kills, an ace serve and an assist block with Dull adding 11 kills and an assist block. IllinoisState’s MC Richmond scored a team-high 15.5 points with Kari Staehlin adding 12.5. Richmond had a team-high 15 kills and an assist block with Staehlin adding 11 kills and three assist blocks.
With Ohio State leading, 5-2 in game one, Illinois State scored four straight points to take a 6-5 lead. A McCarthy kill tied the game at six. Six additional ties made it 13-13 followed by a Dull kill to take a 14-13 lead. A Redbird error and a Kristen Dozier (So., SandySpring, Md.) kill took the lead to three at 16-13. OSU expanded the lead to 20-15 only to have IllinoisState make a 9-3 run to tie the game at 24 with a Mallory Leggett kill. Two OSU kills from McCarthy gave the Buckeyes a 26-25 lead. The Redbirds tied the game at 27 with a Kelley Hailey kill. Meyer, with two kills gave OhioState a 29-27 lead, serving game point. A Richmond kill stopped the game point and an OSU error tied the game at 29. Kills by Meyer and Richmond moved the score to 30-30. A Meyer kill made it 31-30 for OSU’s second game point. A Dozier solo block ended the game at 32-30 for OhioState. OhioState hit .304 for the game to .244 for the Redbirds. Meyer had four of OSU’s final five points in the game.
IllinoisState opened game two with a 6-1 point run. OSU cut the lead to 6-4 with kills from McCarthy and Meyer and a Redbird error. IllinoisState kills from Staehlin and Jagoda Pstras took the lead to 8-4. Buckeye kills from McCarthy and Stevens and a McCarthy ace serve cut the margin to one at 8-7. At 11-10, IllinoisState, a Richmond kill and an OSU error made it 13-10. A Meyer kill and two Redbird errors tied the game at 13. IllinoisState regained the lead and held a 19-16 lead before OSU scored four straight points to take a 20-19 lead. The run began with a kill from Stevens. A Meyer-Stevens and a Meyer-Ashley Hughes (So., Carroll, Ohio) block with a Redbird error completed the run. IllinoisState regained the lead with an OSU error and a Leggett-Staehlin block at 21-20. A five-point run by OhioState opened a 26-21 Buckeye lead. A Meyer kill, a Hughes-Meyer block and three Redbird errors completed the run. A Staehlin kill stopped the run at 26-22. OSU closed out the game with the final four points starting with two McCarthy kills. An IllinoisState error set game point at 29-22 and a Meyer kill ended the game at 30-22. OhioState hit .143 for the game to .043 for IllinoisState.
Tied at three in game three, Ohio State scored the next six points to take a 9-3 lead. Three kills from Dull, an ace serve and a kill from Stevens and a Redbird error completed the run. At 11-6, the Buckeyes scored the next five points starting with a Dull kill. The run continued with kills from Hughes, McCarthy and Stevens and an ace serve from Laura Kastein (Jr., Marysville, Ohio). Leading 18-10, OhioState scored 10 consecutive points to open a 28-10 lead. A Buckeye error stopped the run at 28-11. A McCarthy kill set match point at 29-11. A Leggett kill stopped the match point at 29-12. OhioState closed out the game with a Dull kill to win, 30-12, and capture the match, 3-0. The Buckeyes hit .581 for the game to .056 for IllinoisState.
OhioState hit .331 for the match to .118 for IllinoisState. The Buckeyes had a 58-38 advantage in kills and a four-to-one margin in ace serves with OSU’s McCarthy recording a match-high two. Defensively, the Buckeyes had a 59 to 49 margin in digs with OSU’s Meyer collecting a match-high 14. At the net, OhioState enjoyed a nine to four advantage in team blocks. OSU’s Dozier recorded a match-high six total blocks with two solos and four assists. At setter, OSU’s Hughes had 29 assists in relief of Betsy Hone (Fr., Celina, Ohio) who recorded 22. Redbird Erin Lindsey had 29 assists for IllinoisState.
The Buckeyes return home this weekend to host the Sports Imports Classic. Action begins Friday in St. John Arena at 4:30 p.m. with Purdue (6-3) playing Oregon (9-0). OhioState hosts fourth-ranked Southern California (8-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday’s action has Purdue playing Southern California at 4:30 p.m. with Oregon facing OhioState a 7 p.m.
