OHIO Volleyball
Bobcats start out strong in opener
By Katherine Bercik, Copy Editor
August 21, 2007 | 1:09 p.m.
The Ohio volleyball program has been the champion of the Mid-American Conference for four consecutive years and is aiming for its fifth MAC championship with this year’s team motto being “Strive for five.”
The No. 23 Bobcats, ranked according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (www.avca.org), will take on “one of the top 10 toughest non-conference schedules,” Head Coach Geoff Carlston said. Early in their season the Bobcats will play No. 9 Minnesota on Aug. 31, No. 15 San Diego Sept. 1, No. 2 Stanford Sept. 2 and No. 19 Long Beach State Sept. 15.
Carlston said he developed the schedule himself, but the players don’t resent the challenge, according to senior Stephanie Blackburn.
“The team is excited to have a tough schedule,” Blackburn said, “We want to play teams that are tough to get that spot.”
Although the team graduated Michaele Blackburn, the team’s most prominent libero, and Savanah Parra, one of the nation’s top setters, the team will return 11 letterwinners and bring in a recruiting class that has been ranked 16th in the nation by prepvolleyball.com, a Web site that claims to be the “nation’s top online community for junior volleyball.”
Among those returning are three 2006 first-team All-MAC selections: co-captains Stephanie Blackburn (Michaele’s sister) and Melissa Griffin and sophomore Ellen Herman, who was named MAC Freshman of the Year last year.
“Those are the three returners that’ll build the foundation of offense,” Carlston said.
Among this year’s recruiting class are freshmen Meryl Bender, Sue Jacobi, Michelle Jantsch and Melissa Szkutnik. Sophomore Meghan Simons, a transfer student from OSU, will also join this year’s line-up.
Jacobi, who graduated from Presentation Academy, was named the Presentation Academy Varsity Volleyball Offensive Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006. Jantsch was named the Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year and labeled one of the top 50 incoming freshmen in the nation by prepvolleyball.com. Szkutnik was named to the 2006 Women’s National A2 Team, named the Premier Volleyball Club Junior Player of the Year, ranked the No. 54 recruit by prepvolleyball.com, and was a member of Volleyball Magazine’s “Fab 50” list of incoming freshmen.
“All four of them (the incoming freshman) could see some real playing time,” Carlston said, “It really depends on how they get over their nerves.”
Blackburn stated that even during practice early on in the season, the freshmen have adjusted very well to the college speed.
Despite the loss of Michaele Blackburn, who finished her career as Ohio’s all-time digs leader with 2,091 digs, Carlston said there are four very strong defensive specialists vying for the libero position: Bender, sophomore Sarah Petrulis, junior Molly Mangan and senior Janice Matacic.
This year the middle is also expected to be stronger. Last year, the middle was composed of freshmen and sophomore players, something that isn’t very common in college volleyball, Carlston said.
“This year we have six real experienced, real legitimate middle blockers,” he said, which will include Szkutnik, Simons, sophomore Jane Sytsma, juniors Amanda Anderson and McKenzie Mauck, and Griffin, if she is fully recovered from her injury in the spring.
Filling in the setting position previously held by Parra, who led the team with 13.47 assists per game last season (which was 10th best in the nation), will be junior Jill DeArmond and Jantsch.
“Jill and Michelle are two very good setters. They are going to do a tremendous job for us,” Carlston said.
Not only does the team hope to win its fifth MAC title, but to reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.
“I think we can do it because everyone is passionate,” Simons said.
Bobcats start out strong in opener
After its strong opening performance against James Madison and Rutgers in the Hampton Inn Volleyball Challenge, it is hard to doubt the team’s potential.
Led by Herman, Griffin, DeArmond, and Blackburn, the Bobcats opened their season with a 3-0 victory (30-20, 30-20, 30-28) against James Madison Aug. 25.To go along with a career-high five service aces in the match, Herman also posted a double-double with 10 kills and a match-high 12 digs. Griffin led the team with 13 kills and added two solo blocks and three assisted blocks. DeArmond posted 36 assists and tied a career-high with six digs while Blackburn had seven kills, nine digs and four assists (ohiobobcats.com).
Then the following day, the Bobcats defeated Rutgers 3-0 (30-15, 30-11, 30-15) in the final match of the tournament.
Anderson made it into the record books at Ohio for an attack percentage of .733 – the fourth-best attack percentage for Ohio – while Sytsma and Griffin made the Hampton Inn Volleyball Challenge All-Tournament team selection.
Once again Herman displayed an excellent performance with a match-high 15 kills, along with five digs and three service aces. Herman was named Most Valuable Player in the tournament and MAC East Division Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 27 for her performance.
The Bobcats will not host another game until Sept. 28-29, when they will play Miami (7 p.m.) and Bowling Green (6:30 p.m.) respectively. Be sure to tune in, however, because with fresh faces and new leaders, this is sure to be an exciting season.
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For information on the NCAA volleyball rules and regulations for this season, please visit
http://www.ncaa.org/library/rules/2007/2007_w_volleyball_rules.pdf.
Another informative website is http://www.avca.org/default.asp, which is the official website of the American Volleyball Coaches Association.