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Topic: Cats Re-group to take down Ball State

Topic: Cats Re-group to take down Ball State

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stub
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Post Count: 994

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Cats Re-group to take down Ball State

Posted: 10/16/2016 1:19:27 PM

Stave off match points in game 4 to win see-saw battle: 25-11 16-25 20-25 32-30 15-11

Mal Salis with a personal best 25 kills and 22 digs. Simone Miller steps up with 8 kills and some key (6!) blocks.

Friday at the Convo against powerful Northern Illinois 16-4 (8-0).

Go OHIO

jh25
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Member Since: 1/17/2016
Post Count: 143

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RE: Cats Re-group to take down Ball State

Posted: 10/20/2016 11:57:42 AM

Great bounce back win for Ohio in this one. NIU's coming in undefeated in MAC play, it'll be an interesting contest to say the least. Would love to see the Convo packed for the pink game.

Monroe Slavin
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Location: Oxnard, CA
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RE: Cats Re-group to take down Ball State

Posted: 10/22/2016 11:58:16 PM

Lost to NIU, beat WMU.

I should know this from following, but: Are we coming together, getting better (seems so)? How much of this downturn (however slight after years of great play) is youth and how much is injuries?

Am I correct in assuming we still have fine talent...just maybe young or injured?

Where's the band?!
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JerseyArnie
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Member Since: 12/5/2012
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RE: Cats Re-group to take down Ball State

Posted: 10/23/2016 8:07:55 AM

The team has come along way since the start of the season. They played very competitive Friday night against Northern Illinois despite losing. Offensively, they have three of the top hitters in the league in Mal, Jamie and Ali. The emergence of Simone Miller as a middle blocker had taken the team up a notch. She had 7 blocks last night, and something like 6 against Ball State the week before. A couple of years ago we were among the leaders in the nation in blocking. This year we have not been very good at blocking.

http://mac-sports.com/custompages/stats/2016VB/confonly.htm

I don't have a volleyball background, but our front line is a bit unorthodox. Mal is only 5'8. That said, having watched her play the last four years against some great competition, I don't think I have seen any team we played against, including the Big 10, have someone who can smash a ball out of the back row like she can. This is a great competitive advantage. One play Friday night N. Illinois but three blockers in the middle to stop her. Which they did, but I don't think I have ever seen that done before. Jamie is the protocol outside hitter, who is leading the league in aces. I like to watch Ali hit. She hits a very, very hard ball, which most teams have trouble defending. She kind of has a unique style, but it sure works. When she is an active part of the offense we can hang with anyone. Our offense needs to work, because we are not naturally gifted defensively like last year. When the offense is clicking, other teams lose some of their mojo, like NI in games 3 and 4, and their play comes down a notch.

In the early part of the season serve receiving was a huge negative issue. Also, the team seems to stumble a little bit, making mental mistakes and playing tentatively, when they get to the latter parts of game. Friday night N. Illinois junked us to death. Hopefully Dean can correct this flaw in our defense. We seemed paticulary vulnerable to being junked right in the middle of our court. Over all our defense is OK, but needs to continue to improve.

We have improved immensely since the start of the season. I would tend to agree with a prior message board poster, who said regarding the tournament that we could win it all, or lose in the first round. That said we are still underdogs compared to Miami and NI. I think the next Miami match at home will be very competitive, and will give us a better feel where we are in the pecking order.

Last Edited: 10/23/2016 8:11:22 AM by JerseyArnie

stub
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Post Count: 994

Status: Offline

RE: Cats Re-group to take down Ball State

Posted: 10/23/2016 10:51:50 AM

Overall, it was a good weekend for Ohio in that the team played well in both matches for the most part. Two close losses in the 1st 2 sets against Northern, then we dominated the next 2 only to lose the 5th. Northern is good but some of the play happened not to go our way- many miss hits and deflections by Northern worked out for them and was the difference. Happens in all sports at times although usually it evens out over a game.

Against Western, it was closer than the final score as the last 2 sets were even. Simone Miller, who replaced freshman starter Sara Januscewski, out 3 weeks with a health issue, stepped up as mentioned above by JerseyArnie. Mal and Jaime were solid. Ohio still needs more consistency in the passing game.

Northern and Miami are both 10-0 but we're next best at 7-3 and we continue to grow.

Go Ohio!

Last Edited: 10/23/2016 10:53:39 AM by stub

Monroe Slavin
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Oxnard, CA
Post Count: 9,121

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RE: Cats Re-group to take down Ball State

Posted: 10/23/2016 2:16:22 PM

stub, Arnie---great analysis...Thanks!

OhioCatFan
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
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RE: Cats Re-group to take down Ball State

Posted: 10/23/2016 11:41:20 PM

Monroe Slavin wrote:

stub, Arnie---great analysis...Thanks!

+1

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Monroe Slavin
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Oxnard, CA
Post Count: 9,121

Status: Offline

RE: Cats Re-group to take down Ball State

Posted: 10/25/2016 2:29:33 AM

Oh, OCF, that's not true.

OhioCatFan
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Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 14,313

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RE: Cats Re-group to take down Ball State

Posted: 10/25/2016 6:20:51 PM

Monroe Slavin wrote:

Oh, OCF, that's not true.

I know that I stretch the truth a little sometimes! ;-)

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