Members of Ohio State women’s volleyball team celebrate a point scored against No. 2 Penn State on Oct. 6, 2017. The Buckeyes lost 3-2. Credit: Rebecca Farage | Lantern Reporter
The Ohio State women’s volleyball team had three tigers to tackle this past weekend as they faced the Princeton, Towson and Missouri Tigers. The Buckeyes defeated all three, recording three wins at the Towson Invitational on Friday and Saturday to bring their record to 8-1.
Ohio State swept both Princeton (25-23, 25-20, 25-16) and Towson (25-23, 25-22, 25-18), bringing the team to four sweeps this season. The Buckeyes beat Missouri in four sets (21-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-20) on Saturday.
Freshman outside hitter Mia Grunze hit .407 against Towson and maintained 12 kills for every match this weekend.
Sophomore setter Becca Mauer knocked out 39 assists against Towson. Mauer played a key role in setting up the offense throughout the weekend with 10.86 assists/set.
Sophomore defensive specialist Hannah Gruensfelder had 21 digs against Towson while sophomore middle blocker Lauren Witte tallied four block assists. Freshman opposite hitter Vanja Bukilic had a .311 hitting percentage and averaged 4.00 kills per set on Saturday.
Many personal records were hit during the Missouri match. Witte (13), Bukilic (13), Grunze (12) and redshirt sophomore middle blocker Jordan Fry (11) reached double figures in kills for the first time this season.
The freshmen carried the team offensively against Princeton as they accounted for 59 percent of Ohio State kills. with Bukillic (12) and Grunze (11) each recording double-digit kills.
Ohio State will be on the road again on Sept. 14 and 15 when the team heads to Dayton for the Flyer Invitational to face the Flyers, Evansville and Tennessee.
