Buckeyes Sweep Northwestern for First Conference Victory – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State (13-2 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) women’s volleyball team posted a 3-0 (25-13, 27-25, 25-21) sweep at Northwestern (9-5, 0-2) Saturday in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Ohio State’s Katie Dull recorded a team-high 13.5 points in the win with 10 kills, one ace serve, one solo block and three assist blocks. Buckeye Emily Danks added 12 points with eight kills, three ace serves and two assist blocks. Wildcat Sabel Moffett posted a match-high 16.5 points for Northwestern with 15 kills, a solo block and one assist block.
Ohio State opened set one with a Dull kill and a Wildcat error for a 2-0 lead. At 6-4, kills from Kelli Barhorst and Danks opened an 8-4 lead. A Naomi Johnson kill cut the lead to three at 9-6. Kills from Barhorst and Dull and an OSU error made it 11-7. Buckeye kills from Danks and Dull and an ace serve from Danks made it 14-7. A Dull solo block and back-to-back aces from Danks made the lead 10 at 17-7. OSU held the lead reaching set point at 24-13 off a Wildcat error. Ohio State won the set, 25-13, off a Northwestern error to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Ohio State hit .500 for the set to .042 for the Wildcats.
After a Danks kill opened set two, Northwestern, with two kills from Alexandra Ayers, one from Moffett, a Buckeye error and a Susan Oxnard ace serve took a 5-1 lead. The Wildcats expanded the lead to seven at 16-9 before an Anna Szerszen kill, her ace serve and a Barhorst-Dull block cut the margin to four at 16-12. Trailing, 20-16, kills from Dull and Barhorst and a Wildcat error made it 20-19. At 22-21, a Northwestern error tied the set at 22. An ace serve from Szerszen gave Ohio State a 23-22 lead. A Buckeye error tied the set at 23. Northwestern took a 24-23 lead with an Ariel Baxterbeck kill and had set point. A block from Barhorst and Dull tie the set at 24. A Wildcat error gave OSU a 25-24 lead and set point. Northwestern tied the set at 25 with a Moffett kill. A Wildcat error made it 26-25 and set point for the Buckeyes. Ohio State won the set, 27-25 with a kill from Dozier to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Buckeyes hit .222 for the set while Northwestern hit .174.
Barhorst, with a kill, gave Ohio State a 1-0 lead in the third set. A Buckeye error, a Moffett solo block and her kill gave Northwestern a 3-1 lead. Trailing, 11-9, a Dozier kill and a Wildcat error tied the set at 11. Kills from Allie Schwarzwalder and Dozier gave Ohio State a 13-11 lead. At 16-14, blocks by Barhorst and Danks and Barhorst and Dull opened up an 18-14 lead. With Northwestern trailing 22-18, a Moffett kill and a Buckeye error cut the Ohio State lead to two at 22-20. Kills from Schwarzwalder and Moffett moved the score to 23-21. The Buckeyes reached match point at 24-21 with a kill from Schwarzwalder. A Wildcat error ended the set at 25-21 to give Ohio State a 3-0 sweep in the match.
Ohio State hit .347 for the match while Northwestern hit .140. The Buckeyes had a 46-33 advantage in kills and a 6-1 margin in ace servers. OSU’s Danks posted a match-high three aces in the contest. The Buckeyes gave up 10 service errors to two for the Wildcats. Defensively, Northwestern had a 42-38 edge in digs. OSU’s Chelsea Noble and NU’s Kate Nobilio shared match-high honors with 14 digs each. At the net, Ohio State had an 8-3 advantage in team blocks. Barhorst posted a match-high six assist blocks for the Buckeyes. At setter, OSU’s Betsy Hone recorded a match-high 39 assists in the match. Northwestern’s Elyse Glab had 28 assists.
The Buckeyes return to St. John Arena to start a three-match home stand next Friday against Wisconsin (5-6, 0-2). OSU then hosts Iowa (9-5, 1-1) Saturday. Both matches begin a 7 p.m. ET
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