Ohio State
Toledo
No. 25 OSU Wins Rocket Classic with 3-1 Victory over Toledo – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 10, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 25th-ranked Ohio State (7-3 overall) women’s volleyball team finished undefeated to win the Rocket Classic with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-20, 27-25) win over host Toledo (4-5) Saturday night in Toledo. OSU’s Mari Hole collected a match/career-high 31 points in the win with 26 kills (.316), two ace serve and three solo blocks. Buckeye Emily Danks added 24 points with 22 kills (.340), one ace serve and one solo block. Toledo’s Sondra Parys recorded a team-high 21.5 points with 21 kills (.315) and one assist block. Lauren Rafdal added 15 points with 15 kills (.333).
In a very tight first set that saw 16 ties and seven lead changes, OSU broke a 13-13 tie with kills from Hole and Kelli Barhorst and an ace serve from Hole to take a 16-13 lead. A Rafdal kill and an OSU error made it 16-15. A kill from Danks made it 17-15. A kill from Parys and an OSU error tied the set at 17. OSU, with kills from Danks and Anna Faul, took a 19-17 lead. Parys, with two kills, tied the set at 19. At 22-all, a Hole kill gave OSU a 23-22 lead. Toledo tied the set at 23 with a Brooke Frazer kill. The Rockets, with a kill from Parys, reached set point at 24-23. Toledo won the set, 25-23, with a Brooke Frazer kill. Toledo hit .382 for the set to .300 for Ohio State.
With the second set tied at nine, OSU kills from Danks and Hole and a Faul-Erin Sekinger block gave Ohio State a 12-9 lead. Toledo trailed, 13-10, before a five-point run opened a 15-13 Rocket lead. The run included two OSU errors and three kills from Rafdal. OSU tied the set at 15 with a kill from Faul and a Rocket error. A solo block from Hole and an ace serve from Sarah Mignin gave OSU a 17-15 lead. At 22-20, a Becca Reidy kill cut the margin to one at 22-21. OSU kills from Danks and Hole gave the Buckeyes set point at 24-21. Ohio State, with a kill from Hole, won the set, 25-21, to tie the match at one set each. OSU hit .324 for the set to .216 for Toledo.
The third set saw 12 ties and six lead changes. Toledo held a 19-18 when a kill from Hole tied the set at 19. Two more kills from Hole gave OSU a 21-19 lead. A Rocket error made the lead three at 22-19. Hole recorded two more kills to reach set point at 24-19. Toledo, with a kill from Frazer, stopped the set point at 24-20. Ohio State, with another kill from Hole, won the set, 25-20, to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Hole was responsible for six of the last seven Buckeye points in the set and recorded 12 total kills in the set. Ohio State hit .447 for the set to .350 for the Rockets.
Tied at eight in the fourth set, Toledo used an 9-2 run to take a 17-10 lead. Trailing, 19-12, kills from Sekinger and Amanda Peterson cut the lead to six at 19-13. At 20-14, a kill from Hole, a Rocket error and a Faul solo block cut the Toledo lead to three at 20-17. Two kills from Rafdal made it 22-17 Rockets. Two Toledo errors and kills from Danks and Taylor Sherwin cut the lead to one at 22-21. An OSU error and a kill by Danks made it 23-22. A Frazer kill gave Toledo set point at 24-22. A kill from Danks stopped the set point at 24-23. The Buckeyes tied the set at 24 with a Barhorst kill. Ohio State, with a Barhorst-Sekinger block reached match point at 25-24. A Parys kill stopped the match point to tie the score at 25-all. A kill from Sekinger gave the Buckeyes a second match point at 26-25. A second consecutive kill from Sekinger won the set, 27-25 for the Buckeyes to win the match 3-1. For the set, Ohio State hit .318 to .286 for Toledo. For the match, Ohio State hit .346 to .307 for Toledo.
The Buckeyes had a 71-63 advantage in kills and a 68-57 edge in assists. OSU’s Sherwin posted a match-high 62 assists with Toledo’s Kassie Kadera recording 54. The Buckeyes recorded five aces to one for the Rockets. OSU’s Mignin and Hole posted two each to share match high honors. The Buckeyes gave up nine service errors to six for Toledo. Defensively, Ohio State had a 71-59 advantage in digs with OSU’s Mignin posting a match-high 27. Toledo’s Amber DeWeerdt recorded a team-high 21. At the net, OSU had a 9-2 edge in team blocks. Barhorst (one solo, two assists), Sekinger (three assists) and Hole (three solos) for Ohio State shared match-high honors with three blocks each.
Named the Most Valuable Player of the Rocket Classic was OSU’s Hole with Danks and Mignin earning All-Tournament honors. Also named to the team were Alabama’s Kayla Fitterer and Cortney Warren, Toledo’s DeWeerdt and Penn’s Lauren Martin.
In the first match this evening, Alabama (6-4) defeated Penn (2-4), 3-2 (25-16, 23-25, 19-25, 25-20, 15-3).
After three weeks on the road Ohio State returns home to host the Sports Imports Classic, Sept. 16-17 in St. John Arena. OSU faces Albany Friday at 5 p.m., On Saturday the Buckeyes play Akron at 11 a.m. and Maryland at 7 p.m.
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