The University of Akron Athletics
Volleyball falls to Ohio on Senior Night, 3-1
November 10 | Women's Volleyball
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AKRON, Ohio – Akron battled the top team in the Mid-American Conference for three and a half sets but the Zips' train would run out steam in a 3-1 loss to league-leading Ohio at Rhodes Arena Saturday evening.
Despite the outcome of the match, UA (16-12, 9-7 MAC) ended the regular season on a high note, compiling the best conference and overall record Akron volleyball has seen in nine years and advancing to the MAC Tournament.
The match was also the last home contest for Akron's five seniors: Tina Dimitrijevs, Chelsea Harvey, Janine Lawler, Paiton Twitty and Morgan Kuhn.
Akron had no issues stepping up to the challenge of hosting an Ohio team that has been red-hot in the MAC this season as the Zips came out swinging right away.
Dimitrijevs supplied a team-high 17 kills with only a single error in 28 attempts to lead both teams with a .571 attack percentage. Kuhn flirted with a triple-double and came as close as a setter can get, finding the floor with a career-high eight kills and adding nine digs and 38 assists for Akron.
Alex Cocklin, Alex Wiederholt and Harvey all had productive nights on the offensive end as well, posting seven kills apiece.
Defensively, Jill Paluch tallied 13 digs and Harvey picked up 12.
UA had some difficulty finding an answer for powerhouse Kelly Lamberti on the outside, who led the Bobcats with 21 kills.
Ohio jumped out to an early lead to open the match, and maintained a three to four point cushion for most of the ride in the first set. The Bobcats were the first to hit 20 points at the 20-13 mark, but the Zips were quick to answer the call.
Forcing Ohio to commit several errors, Akron scored four in a row and seven of the next 10 points to cut the difference to two at 23-21. OU scored on the next play to bring it to set point but Akron deferred with a kill from Harvey. Lamberti rebounded for the Bobcats on the second try to sneak away with a first set win
Akron came back in the second set with a vengeance, using six unanswered points to take a 6-3 lead and threaten Ohio out of the gate. The Bobcats retaliated with a 6-0 run of their own to go ahead 10-7 and force Akron to counter, which it did.
The Zips weathered the storm and eventually tied the game at 16-all on a timely kill from Kuhn. The score would tie again at 17, 18 and 19 before Akron could pull away, doing so on a kill from Dimitrijevs and three more Ohio errors. UA would need two tries at set point as well but Dimitrijevs made sure to end it there, throwing down a kill to even the match at 1-1.
UA stayed in hot pursuit of Ohio in the third set but could not quite catch up. Down four at 24-20, Wiederholt came through with a kill to rattle OU enough to call a timeout. It was not enough to ice the Bobcats though, as they came back and scored on the next play to pick up set three.
Back and forth play opened the fourth set until six straight points from Ohio midway through the period put the Zips at a distance that could not be erased. Unforced errors on Akron's side of the net did not allow a fifth set and helped the Bobcats take the match.
By splitting their last two matches on the schedule, the Zips have unofficially locked up the fifth seed in the MAC Tournament, pending the final results from around the league on Saturday. Should the fifth seed belong to Akron, it would face off against the No. 4 seed in the opening match of the tournament at 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 16 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva.
More information about Akron volleyball and the MAC Tournament will be posted on GoZips.com as it becomes available.
