Ohio State ousts Cincinnati in NCAA Volleyball

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 13th-seeded Ohio State volleyball team proved too strong as they ended the best season in Cincinnati history, 3-1, in second round action in the 2001 NCAA Volleyball Championship in St. John Arena. The Bearcats, who fell 30-16, 22-30, 30-27, 30-20, end their season 23-8, while the Buckeyes are 27-3 and advance to the regional semifinals next weekend.

The Buckeyes jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the opening frame on the strength of three kills from Suzie Stiling and pushed the lead to 10, 14-4, on an Anne Botica kill. The Bearcats never got closer than nine after that, as OSU hit .368 for the game, committing only three errors. UC committed only six attack errors, but recorded only 10 kills to hit .105. Julie DuPont had four of the kills and Becky Stahl and Trish Ladusaw each had three. Botica had five kills and no errors in 10 attacks. UC had no blocks in the game and was outdug, 17-13.

Cincinnati scored the first four points of game two and used a 5-0 run to open up a 10-3 advantage. A 4-0 OSU run, with three Botica kills, cut the lead to two, but the Bearcats held the Buckeyes off. Two Stacey Gordon kills cut the lead to one, 16-15, but OSU allowed a Ladusaw overpass to drop on the next point and a four-point run by UC pushed the margin up to 21-16 on a Tobi Kirchenwitz kill. OSU got no closer than four the rest of the way and DuPont finished off the game with a kill. The UC defense had eight blocks in the game, with DuPont and Kirchenwitz each picking up four block assists. The Buckeyes had 16 kills to UC's 12, but committed 15 errors to hit .021.

Game three featured 11 ties, with neither team gaining more than a two-point lead until OSU went ahead 23-20. After UC cut the advantage to two, the Buckeyes scored the next five points to take control at 28-22. UC battled back with a 5-1 run to get within two, but Botica finished the game with her fourth kill of the game. OSU again held the kill advantage, 20-12, led by Gordon's eight and Botica had seven digs. Stahl had four of the UC kills and Ladusaw had five digs.

"Game two was one of the best games we played all year," said head coach Reed Sunahara. "We came out excited in game three and played tough, but couldn't put them away. If we win that game it's a different match."

Botica and Stiling each had two kills to help OSU to a 7-2 lead in game four and UC never got closer than four points after that. Gordon and Stiling each had six kills to lead the Buckeyes to a .432 hitting percentage. DuPont had four kills to lead UC.

Gordon finished with match-highs with 24 kills and 15 digs and Botica had 19 and 15. Stiling also had a double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs and Katie Virtue recorded 58 assists and 11 digs.

DuPont finished with 13 kills and Stahl and Ladusaw each had 11 kills, with Ladusaw adding 14 digs and Stahl 10. Kirchenwitz ended her UC career with an eight-block performance while fellow senior Rachel Beran had nine digs.

The UC juniors and seniors took the Bearcats to three-straight NCAA tournaments and earned the school's first tourney win Friday night against Xavier.

"We had a good run," said Sunahara. "I'm proud of how we came out here and hung in there against one of the best teams in the country."