Sophomore middle blocker Taylor Sandbothe (10) and junior outside hitter Katie Mitchell (17) go for a block during a match against FGCU on Sept. 5 at St. John Arena. OSU won, 3-1.
Credit: Emily Yarcusko
The Ohio State women’s volleyball team took two of three matches at the Millennium Hotel Invitational to improve to 6-3 on the season.
OSU first beat Syracuse University (5-4) on Friday, before losing to Ohio University (6-3) and then bounced back to defeat Xavier University (6-3) in its final tournament game.
In the third game of the invitational against host Xavier, the Buckeyes had to fight their way to victory as they defeated Musketeers in five sets (17-25, 25-21, 25-19, 24-26, 15-11).
Sophomore middle blocker Taylor Sandbothe led all players in kills with 18. Senior outside hitter Erin Sekinger contributed 16 kills and junior outside hitter Katie Mitchell had 12. Sophomore libero Valeria León led all players with 20 digs and freshman outside hitter Luisa Schirmer added 10 of her own.
In their second match of the weekend and first on Saturday, against coach Geoff Carlston’s former team, the Buckeyes lost to the Bobcats in four sets (26-28, 22-25, 26-24, 21-25).
Sekinger led the Buckeyes in total kills with 16 and added two digs. Sandbothe had 14 kills with five digs and four blocks, while Mitchell added 11 kills, two digs and a block. León and Schirmer each had 18 digs, while senior setter Taylor Sherwin added 40 assists.
In their first game of the invitational against Syracuse, the Buckeyes were tested, but came out winners in a five-set victory against the Orange (25-22, 20-25, 25-13, 23-25, 15-8).
Five Buckeyes recorded double-digit kills as Sandbothe led all players with 20. Junior outside hitter Elizabeth Campbell followed with 16 kills, five digs and two blocks. Sekinger had 13 kills, while sophomore outside hitter Kylie Randall had 12 and Schirmer had 11. León led all players in digs with 23, while Sherwin had 18 and Schirmer had 17.
Sandbothe and Sekinger were both named to the Millennium Hotel Invitational all-tournament team. Sandbothe has been named to all-tournament team in each of the three tournaments the Buckeyes have competed in this season.
The Buckeyes are scheduled to head to Oxford, Ohio, next weekend as they are set to compete in the Miami University Invitational. OSU is scheduled to play the University of Alabama at Birmingham (3-7) on Friday at 4 p.m., followed by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (4-7) on Saturday at 10 a.m. and Miami (Ohio) (5-4) at 7 p.m.
The Buckeyes are set to open Big Ten play on Sept. 24 at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn. The match is scheduled to start at 8 p.m.
