Sept. 9, 2011
Final Stats
ATHENS, Ohio - Freshmen Kelly Lamberti had 13 kills and Chelsea Bilger added 10 but the Bobcats were beaten in their 2011 home opener by Louisville this evening in four sets, 23-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-19.
Ohio broke a 12-12 tie in the first set with nine of the next 13 points for a 21-16 edge. Louisville would keep things competitive and eventually cut it to one at 24-23 before Lamberti's fifth kill of the set won it for the Bobcats. The freshman hit .400 in the set while Bilger added three kills and seven digs.
Ohio struggled the rest of the night, hitting only .147 and getting out-blocked by the Cardinals. Bilger recorded her first double-double by adding a match-high 25 digs and Lamberti notched her fifth with 12 digs. Katie Post managed only five kills but did have a match-high seven blocks. Lola Arslanbekova had 18 kills, 14 in the final two sets to lead the Cardinals
The Bobcats never led in the second set as Louisville used a 10-3 run in the second set to go ahead 20-9. The Bobcats scored four of the next five on a pair of kills by Bilger and a spike from Lexie Hartnett, however, the deficit was too big to overcome as Ohio fell 25-15, Bilger, Hartnett and Faith Robins each had three kills in the set.
After the intermission, Ohio jumped on Louisville and took a 9-3 lead behind kills from Bilger, Lamberti, Hartnett and Robins. However, U of L battled back and eventually tied the score at 18 apiece. Ohio went ahead briefly at 20-19 but the Cardinals closed the third set with a 6-2 run to take their first lead in the match. Lamberti and Bilger had eight of the team's 14 kills in the set and 14 of the squad's 19 digs.
The Green & White fell behind early and trailed by as many as seven in the fourth set at 15-8. With Mollie Geske serving, Ohio closed to within three points at 20-17 after Leah Petrovich set Lamberti up for another kill. Despite the valiant efforts, U of L snatched five of the final seven points to win the match with a 25-19 triumph in the set.
The Bobcats will face off against Marshall at 1 p.m. on Saturday before closing with Virginia on Sunday at 1 p.m.
