Oct. 6, 2006

Box Score

ATHENS, Ohio - The No. 21 Ohio volleyball team swept Ball State, 3-0 (30-23, 30-16, 30-12) to kick off a two-match weekend road slate.

Ohio is undefeated in the Mid-American Conference with a 5-0 record and has 37 consecutive wins over MAC opponents during the regular season. The Bobcats are now 13-3 overall. The Cardinals are 6-11 overall and 3-2 in the conference.

Melissa Griffin (Whitehall, Mich.) led the Bobcats with a match-high 16 kills on .538 hitting. Stephanie Blackburn (Cincinnati, Ohio) recorded her ninth double-double performance of the season with 14 kills and 18 digs. Blackburn is seven digs away from 1,000 in her career. Her sister Michaele reached the milestone last season and is Ohio's all-time leader in career digs with 1,801. Michaele Blackburn (Cincinnati, Ohio) is 89 digs away from the NCAA record book, she registered 13 digs tonight.

Ellen Herman (Toledo, Ohio) added 11 kills to the Ohio offense, while Amanda Andersen (Lino Lakes, Minn.) and Jane Sytsma (Madison, Wis.) tallied eight and seven kills, respectively.

Savanah Parra (Temecula, Calif.) totaled 51 assists, the second most she's had this season, and Molly Mangan (Claire, Ill.) served up four aces.

Kirby Gibson, Kelly Cochran and Julie Breivogel each had seven kills for Ball State.

After Ball State opened the frame with an ace serve, Ohio scored 15 straight points to take the lead 15-7. Ball State was able to come within one at 18-17 but a 5-3 run, sparked by two kills apiece from Stephanie Blackburn and Andersen, put the Bobcats up 23-20. Ohio led by as much as seven and a kill by Griffin closed the game with a 30-23 Ohio win.

Game two started the same as game one with Ball State getting the first point. A kill by Stephanie Blackburn at 2-2 sparked a 3-1 Ohio run and the Bobcats pulled ahead 5-3. Ball State tied the game at 6-6 until Stephanie Blackburn broke the tie for a 7-6 lead. The Cardinals weren't able to gain the lead and the Bobcats pulled out to a 30-16 win of game two.

Griffin's team-high seven kills in game three led Ohio to win the game 30-12. Ohio jumped out to a 17-5 lead and a kill by Cassie Connor gave Ball State a point to make the score 17-6. Ohio then used a 4-0 run to pull ahead 21-6. The Bobcats lead by as much as 18 and won game three, 30-12.

The Bobcats round out their weekend road trip tomorrow when they face Toledo at 3:30 p.m.