The Ohio State women’s volleyball team celebrates after a point during Ohio State’s matchup against The University of Texas Aug. 26. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
The No. 8 Ohio State women’s volleyball team earned the program’s first nonconference top-three victory over No. 3 Louisville Sunday and split its weekend alongside No. 15 San Diego during the Cardinal Classic.
Ohio State (1-3) rallied ahead of the Cardinals (5-1) and won three-consecutive sets to down Louisville 3-1. The Buckeyes fell Saturday to the Toreros (4-1) who took the match by way with a 3-0 sweep.
San Diego
The word “sweep” typically indicates that one team dominated the other, but the match between San Diego and Ohio State was closer than the final result Saturday.
Ohio State got on the scoreboard first thanks to a kill by junior outside hitter Emily Londot, but a 9-2 run by the Toreros to retake the lead was enough to keep the Buckeyes at bay, winning the set 25-22.
The Toreros and Buckeyes traded points in the second set until a kill by senior outside hitter Adria Powell put Ohio State up with a 23-22 lead. Following a timeout, San Diego scored three-consecutive points and took the set 25-23.
San Diego began scoring in the third set, but kills from Londot and senior outside hitter Gabby Gonzales started a 5-0 run, giving Ohio State a 17-12 lead.
The Toreros found a way out of the deficit to tie the score thanks to a challenge that would’ve netted a set win for Ohio State. Instead San Diego won the set 28-26 and took the match.
Louisville
Ohio State broke its three-game losing streak and Louisville’s 24-game home-court winning streak to earn the Buckeyes’ first win of the season Sunday.
Four Buckeyes finished the match with over 10 kills, including senior outside hitter Jenaisya Moore and Londot who led the team with 15 kills apiece.
Junior middle blocker Rylee Rader finished the match with 14 kills, Gonzales recorded 11 kills and senior setter Mac Podraza ended with 44 assists.
Ohio State began the match with six different players getting a kill, but Louisville led end -to -end in this set and won the set 25-17, thanks to an 11-1 run by the Cardinals.
Ohio State’s defense brought the extra offense needed as the Buckeyes won the set 25-15. Senior defensive specialist Kylie Murr’s dig to put Louisville down in the set 16-11 was not only representative of the defensive effort that Ohio State came out with, but helped keep the momentum of what became a 15-3 run alive.
Lousiville did its best to refute Ohio State’s demand for control in the match, tying six times through the set, but a 5-0 run gave Ohio State the lead until the score tied at 23.
A kill from Rader won the set 25-23.
With eight lead changes in the first 22 points of the fourth set, it looked like Ohio State and Louisville would come right down to the wire, but Ohio State went on a 9-1 run capped off with an ace from Londot and took the set 25-17.
Ohio State will travel to Atlanta to play No. 7 BYU (5-1) Friday at 7 p.m. and No. 5 Georgia Tech Sunday at 1 p.m.
