After three years, 386 sets and 107 matches, Ohio State women’s volleyball player Emily Danks killed another benchmark.

In the Buckeyes Saturday contest against Toledo, Danks amassed her 1000th career kill, a feat only accomplished by 18 other OSU student-athletes before her in the sport.

Danks, an American Volleyball Coaches Association Honorable Mention All-American selection, said she has both strengths and weaknesses going into the upcoming season, but she has been working hard to improve her game.

“I think my biggest area of improvement is defense,” Danks said. “I have been working with Andrew (Palileo), our assistant head coach, and hopefully that will help me out.”

But as Danks and the No. 24-ranked Buckeyes (2-1) opened up the 2012 season with back-to-back wins against Houston and Toledo last weekend in the Sports Imports DC Koehl Classic, OSU met its match against Oregon Saturday, falling 3-2 to the Ducks.

The senior outside hitter said she has high hopes for the team this season.

“We have a really good team this year and a lot of depth,” Danks said. “I’m excited to see how far we can go.”

Danks said her favorite game she has played at OSU was the team’s match against Minnesota last year on Sept. 30, in which the Buckeyes swept the then-No. 10-ranked Gophers three games to none.

“We won, and there is a clip online that I watch all the time,” Danks said. “It was just a definition of a fun volleyball game.”

Danks said the team has set a goal this season to do better than they have in the past, and hopefully they will advance in the sport’s championship tournament to either the “Elite Eight” or even the national championship.

Although Danks said she loves volleyball, she is looking forward to other personal and academic opportunities after this season.

“Volleyball has been really good to me, but it is time to move on,” Danks said. “I’m looking into grad schools all over the country right now.”

The Buckeyes will face Binghamton University in the Maryland Invitational in College Park, Md. Friday at 5 p.m.