Women’s Volleyball: Ohio State Pulls Out Five Set Victory at Northwestern – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio State women’s volleyball team (10-5 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) needed a fifth set 15-10 win to earn a 3-2 (26-24, 26-24, 21-25, 12-25, 15-10) victory at Northwestern (6-8, 0-3) Friday night in Welsh-Ryan Arena. OSU’s Katie Dull scored a match-high 19.5 points with Anna Szerszen adding 16 for the Buckeyes. Dull had a match-high 16 kills, a solo block and five assists with Szerszen adding 13 kills, one ace serve and four assist blocks. Naomi Johnson had a team-high 17.5 points for Northwestern with 16 kills, and three assist blocks. Chelsy Hyser added 14.5 points for the Wildcats with nine kills, an ace serve, a solo block and seven assists.
Northwestern overcame an early 3-1 Ohio State lead with seven consecutive point to take an 8-3 lead. A Wildcat error, a Susan Halverson ace serve cut the margin to three at 8-5. At 9-5, Buckeye kills from Kelli Barhorst, Szerszen and Kristen Dozier and two Northwestern errors gave OSU a 10-9 lead. Hyser tied the set at 10 with a kill. A Buckeye error gave Northwestern a 12-11 lead. A Dozier kill tied the set at 12. Two Northwestern errors and a Betsy Hone solo block opened a 15-12 Buckeye lead. A Wildcat error and a Dull kill made it 17-12. Trailing, 19-15, an OSU error, an Ariel Baxterbeck-Hyser block and an Alexandra Ayers kill cut the lead to one at 19-18. Kills from Barhorst and Hyser made it 20-19. A Brittani Gray kill tied the set at 20. OSU took a 22-20 lead with a Barhorst kill and a Szerszen-Dozier block. A Hyser block and a Wildcat error made it 23-21. A Gray kill made it 23-22. OSU reached set point at 24-22 with a Szerszen kill. Northwestern responded with a Sabel Moffett kill and a Moffett-Baxterbeck block to tie the set at 24. Ohio State won the set, 26-24 off two Wildcat errors. Ohio State hit .121 for the set to .000 for Northwestern.
Northwestern opened set two with a Hyser kill and a Johnson-Hyser block for a 2-0 lead. The Wildcats held the lead, opening a five-point margin at 14-9. A Szerszen kill and two from Dull cut the lead to 14-12. Trailing, 16-14, a Szerszen kill and a Wildcat error tied the set at 16. Two blocks from Moffett and Elyse Glab and a Moffett kill gave Northwestern a 20-17 lead. Down, 22-19, a Szerszen kill and two from Dull tied the set at 22. OSU took a 23-22 lead off a Dull-Dozier block. A Baxterbeck kill tied the set at 23. The Wildcats, with a Johnson-Hyser block took a 24-23 lead, serving set point. A Northwestern error tied the set at 24. A Hone-Barhorst block gave OSU a 25-24 lead, serving set point. Ohio State won the set, 26-24, with a Dull-Barhorst block, to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Buckeyes hit .194 in the set to .100 for Northwestern.
Tied at nine in set three, two kills from Dull and a Chelsea Noble ace serve gave Ohio State a 12-9 lead. After a Glab kill, a Dull kill and a Wildcat error made it 14-10. Trailing, 15-11, a Gray kill and three OSU errors tied the set at 15. At 18 all, Northwestern took a 21-18 lead with a Johnson kill, a Baxterbeck-Hyser block and a Kelly Keporos kill. A Wildcat error and a Dozier kill made it 21-20. An OSU error, a Hyser-Glab block and a Gray kill made it 24-20 with Northwestern serving set point. A Wildcat error made it 24-21. Northwestern won the set, 25-21, with a Gray kill to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Wildcats hit .216 for the set to .048 for Ohio State.
From a 7-7 tie in set four, Northwestern scored the next five points to open a 12-7 lead. The run began with kills from Johnson and Madalyn Shalter. Two OSU errors and a Hyser-Glab block made it 12-7. The Wildcats expanded the lead to 21-11 before a Dull kill made it 21-12. A Gray kill, two from Johnson made it 24-12 at set point. A Buckeye error ended the set at 25-12 to tie the match at two sets each. Northwestern hit .320 in the set to .000 for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State opened the fifth set with a Dozier kill. Two Wildcat errors and a Dull kill gave the Buckeyes a 4-0 lead. An OSU error made it 4-1. A kill by Dull and a Wildcat error made it 6-1. Kills from Gray and Barhorst made it 7-2. A Johnson kill cut the margin to 7-3. Buckeye kills from Barhorst and Szerszen gave OSU a 9-3 lead. Kills from Moffett and Dozier made it 10-4. Johnson and Ashley Hughes, with kills, moved the score to 11-5. A Hyser kill and a Wildcat error made it 12-6. A solo block from Dull and a Hyser kill made it 13-7. A Northwestern error made it 14-7 with Ohio State serving match point. A Gray-Moffett block, a Moffett solo block and an OSU error stopped three match points to cut the lead to 14-10. The Buckeyes, with a Barhorst-Dull block, won the set, 15-10, to win the match, 3-2. The Buckeyes hit .200 in the set to .042 for Northwestern.
Northwestern out hit Ohio State, .127 to .106 in the match. The Wildcats had a 57-49 margin in kills and a six-to-four advantage in ace serves. Each squad had eight service errors. Defensively, Ohio State had a 60-53 margin in digs. Northwestern’s Kate Nobilio posted a match-high 24 digs while Ohio State’s Noble had 20. At the net, the Buckeyes had a 16-14 advantage in team blocks. OSU’s Barhorst collected a match/career-high of 10 assist blocks in the contest. At setter, Glab produced a match-high 48 assists for the Wildcats. OSU’s Hone recorded 36 in the match with Ashley Hughes adding 10.
Ohio State continues on the road to face No. 20 Wisconsin (11-4, 1-2) at 2 p.m. EDT Sunday. The Badgers won 3-2 (25-27, 18-25, 26-24, 26-24, 15-10) over Michigan in the Wisconsin Field House Friday.
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