The Ohio State women’s volleyball team celebrates during the Ohio State-Michigan game Oct. 26. Ohio State won 3-0. Credit: Katie Good | Asst. Photo Editor
The No. 6 Ohio State women’s volleyball team extended its win streak to 12 matches after sweeping Northwestern and Michigan State on the road Friday and Saturday.
Ohio State (17-5, 13-1 Big Ten) held Northwestern (17-9, 6-8 Big Ten) and Michigan State (10-15, 1-11 Big Ten) to a combined 66 kills while the Buckeyes collected 81.
Northwestern
The teams traded scores early until Ohio State took four of five points and took a 14-11 lead. The Wildcats knotted the score at 14 and again at 18, but the Buckeyes led 21-18 into a Northwestern timeout and took the set 25-22.
Northwestern hit under .200 the entire match, but its best hitting came in the first set at .166. Northwestern senior outside hitter Temi Thomas-Ailara was held to a .111 hitting percentage, but led her team in kills and attempts, connecting on 13 of 45 attempts.
Northwestern used its second timeout after the Buckeyes took an early 10-3 second-set lead. Ohio State pushed the final lead to 13 points, taking the second set 25-12.
Senior outside hitter Jenaisya Moore ended the set with her 11th kill of the match, finishing with 13. The Buckeyes collected 15 kills in the set with a .361 clip, while holding Northwestern to no kills.
The Wildcats grabbed the first point for a third consecutive set, but the Buckeyes went on two 4-1 runs and held a 14-9 advantage. Ohio State extended its lead to seven by the end and completed the sweep 25-18.
The Buckeyes blocked 11 kill attempts, their second-highest of the season, and passed 10 blocks for the sixth time this year.
Michigan State
The Buckeyes started the back leg of the two-night roadtrip trailing 6-2 in the first set behind several three-point Spartan runs. Ohio State used three-point runs of its own to command the lead 12-9 and outscored Michigan State 10-2 down the stretch to take the first 25-13.
The Spartans were held to five kills in the opening set, and collected 12 attack errors. Ohio State collected 10 kills with three errors.
Ohio State went on a 6-0 run to break the early battle and led 15-10 before a Michigan State timeout. The Spartans came out of the timeout hot, bringing the score to 17-16. Following a Buckeye timeout, they were outscored 8-2 and Ohio State took the second set 25-18.
Fifth-year middle blocker Rebecka Poljan and freshman outside hitter Selin Aslayan led the Spartans with nine kills.
The third set was 23-21 in favor of Ohio State and tied three more times with one lead change. The Spartans tied the match for the final time at 25, but the Buckeyes pulled away with a kill and block to finish the sweep.
Outsider hitters senior Gabby Gonzales, Moore and junior Emily Londot each surpassed 10 kills on the night. The Buckeyes totaled 43 kills.
Record watch
Senior defensive specialist Kylie Murr totaled at least 10 digs for the 20th time this season and at least 20 digs for the fifth time this season. She finished with 30 for the weekend and is 56 away from the all-time Ohio State career record.
Up next
Ohio State ends its four-game road stand Thursday against No. 14 Purdue beginning at 7 p.m.
