OSU Women's Volleyball vs Michigan State

The Ohio State women's volleyball team defeated MSU in an exciting four game match in a pink themed St. John Arena last night.

Supporters from both teams made up the 1,431 attendees as the players honored breast cancer awareness month, sporting pink socks and pink ribbons in their hair.

The no. 23 ranked Buckeyes came into the match with a record of 14-8 (4-5 Big Ten) having just lost to Penn State Wednesday night. Michigan State, lead by Head Coach Cathy George, stepped onto the court with a 16-5 (5-4 Big Ten) record coming off a defeat by no. 1 Illinois and a win against Northwestern.

The Spartans made themselves known early in the first set with a quick 8-5 lead. Ohio State was able to recover and place themselves four points ahead, thanks to three Spartan errors and kills by Buckeyes Emily Danks and Kaitlyn Leary. MSU's talented Jenilee Rathje began to warm up at this time and remained a key asset to the team throughout the match. Rathje got a kill and a block after a Buckeye service error to even up the score at 23. Two more Buckeye errors gave Michigan State the set.

In the second set, the Spartans started strong with a five point lead. The Buckeyes put up their own points with Amanda Peterson and Kelli Barhorst blocking several Spartan attacks. Both teams kept the rest of the match very close with exciting volleys and defensive efforts. When the score tied up at 18, Ohio State pulled ahead for the first time in the set 22-18 with points from Danks, Leary, and Mariah Booth. Rathje of MSU, assisted by Jazmine White, answered with three kills and three blocks each to tie the set at 23. This was quickly followed by two Spartan errors giving the Buckeyes the set.

Set 3 brings freshman setter Taylor Sherwin into the match for the first time who gets 10 assists. Both teams again kept it very close with 4 tied scores until the Bucks began to pull ahead at 8-8. Action from Booth, Danks and Leary kept Ohio State in the lead, but Buckeye errors gave MSU opportunities to catch up. That is until a service ace and kill by Danks, a block by Barhorst and Peterson and a costly Spartan error made the score 16-11. Kills from Rathje and Kyndra Abron of the Spartans began to close the gap. After three MSU errors and kills by Rathje and Peterson, Buckeye Mari Hole finally starts making contact with the ball and gets an important kill making it 23-17. Booth sets up the Buckeyes for set point with a kill, and is followed by Danks who gets a kill of her own. Ohio State takes the set 25-19.

In the fourth and final set, we see the return of Buckeye Erin Sekinger, the 6'3'' freshman out of Columbus. Sekinger replaces Hole only for a few plays, but makes a kill out of her only attack attempt. Early in the first set, Michigan State gets a five point lead. Kori Moster, the Spartans' Ohio native, gets a service ace and is followed up by a White block and some OSU errors, making it 13-5. Sarah Mignin of the Bucks gets her own ace while Barhorst, Booth and Leary each get kills narrowing the Spartan lead. An error in OSU's favor tied the game at 16. Barhorst continued to work hard for three more kills and a block. Answered by none other than Rathje, who begins to catch up to Ohio State making it 20-19. Set and match point came for the Bucks thanks to three Spartan errors. Danks ends the game with a punishing kill 25-21.

Spartan standouts include Rathje with 23 kills, Moster with 28 digs, and Kristen Kelsay with 24 assists. Mignin and Hole led the Buckeyes in digs with 23 and 14. Peterson gets 27 assists and Danks gets a team high 16.5 points on the match.

On October 28, the Ohio State women's volleyball team (15-8, 5-5) will host no. 4 Nebraska (16-1) who are 9-0 in conference play. Michigan State (16-6, 5-5) will go home to East Lansing to prepare for Indiana (8-13, 0-9) on Wednesday.