The Buckeye's kicked off the 2012 preseason schedule back on August 24th in the Sports Imports DC Koehl Classic. Ohio State swept their first two matches before eventually losing to a very talented Oregon team.
In their season opening match against Houston, the Buckeyes eleven kills out of senior Emily Danks and ten kills out of senior team captain Mari Hole. Danks came into the season just 14 kills shy of 1,000 on her career. Setter Amanda Peterson also put on a great show, totaling 38 assists on the match, helping to lead Ohio State to a 25-21, 25-20, 25-21 victory. Houston had a great showing from Katie Norris who totaled 17 kills on the match on her way to leading all scorers.
Service errors were a problem for Ohio State, with 7 on the day, but that could be chalked up to early rust as that has not been nearly such an noticeable issue as the season has rolled on.
On August 25th the team played two matches, starting with a sweep of Toledo. In this match Danks chipped in with another nine kills, Hole had 13 kills as well as 5 hitting errors, while Kaitlyn Leary did her part with another 11 kills. The Toledo offense was held in check the entire match as not a single rocket was able to reach double digit kills. Lauren Rafdal and Jordan Kielty tied for the team lead with eight a piece. Ohio State ended up winning 25-19, 25-20, 25-14.
In the championship match of the DC Koehl Classic, the Buckeyes (ranked 24th at the time) faced off against then number twenty Oregon.
Ohio State got off to a spectacular start winning each of the first two sets and really looking to upset a very talented Oregon squad. The Duck's All-American Alaina Bergsma was held mostly in check through those first two sets while Emily Danks started off at a torrid pace. Danks finished with 22 kills and Hole added 19, but Bergsma ended up stealing the show with 23 kills while leading the Ducks to a 3-2 come from behind victory. The final scores were Ohio State 25-17, 25-21, 14-25, 24-26, 10-15.
I'll be back later with a continued look back at the Buckeye preseason. As well as a look ahead to this...
With the 2012 Big Ten season finally under way, the Ohio State Women's Volleyball team heads to Minnesota tonight and Wisconsin tomorrow night to kick off a four game conference road trip.
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