COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Western Michigan volleyball dropped its first match of the season, 3-1 (25-14, 17-25, 25-18, 25-12), at Ohio State, ranked No. 28 in the AVCA Coaches Top Poll, at St. John Arena on Saturday morning.
The Broncos (1-1) were led by freshman Gillian Asque with 13 kills and nine digs, while sophomore Jessica Brown had 11 kills. Freshman Lena Oliver led all players with 18 digs, while senior Allyson Doyle had 10 digs and eight kills. Junior setter Sam Viox compiled 34 assists, seven digs and three kills against the Buckeyes (2-0).
Western Michigan was held to .129 hitting, while the Buckeyes hammered 60 kills and hit .364. The Broncos had six more digs (48-42), but were out-blocked (9.0-3.0). The Broncos had three aces and one error, while Ohio State had 11 aces, countered by 12 service misses.
"I'm disappointed that we didn't play the way we can play the entire match," head coach Colleen Munson said. "We had moments where we fought and things went our way, but couldn't produce enough of our own rallies."
The Broncos started slow as Ohio State scored 15 of the first 21 points to build a nine-point edge, 15-6. OSU missed a serve followed by kills from Asque and Brown to cut into the lead, 15-9, and force Ohio State to call timeout. The Buckeyes scored the next three points to go back up nine, 18-9, and went on to take the opening set, 25-14, on a back row kill by Katie Dull.
Western Michigan couldn't slow Ohio State as it hit .464 with 14 kills, while WMU had only eight kills and seven errors to hit .040. Gossen, Brown and Doyle each had two kills in the set.
The Broncos continued to struggle as they fell behind by five, 9-4, to open the second set. A kill by Gossen, ace by Viox and attack error by the Buckeyes pulled WMU within two, 9-7, but OSU went back up by five, 13-8, after a pair of blocks. The teams traded points to keep OSU up five, 14-9, when Brown had back-to-back kills and OSU hit the net to cut the lead to two, 14-12. Ohio State put away a kill to slow WMU, but the Broncos got two kills from Viox and an assisted block as part of a 6-0 run to take the lead, 18-15. The lead eventually ballooned to six, 24-18, after a kill by Doyle and assitted block by Doyle and Turnage.
The Buckeyes staged a six-point rally to tie the score, 24-24, until Asque narrowly skidded an attack off Ohio State fingertips to put WMU in front, 25-24. The Buckeyes scored on the next point for the sixth tie of the set, but Brown had a kill and Doyle's strong serve forced OSU into an attack error on set point, 27-25.
The Broncos improved to .250 hitting with 17 kills, while OSU had another 14 kills, but eight errors to hit .154. Brown and Asque each had five kills in the set.
Western Michigan struggled out of the gate for the third set in a row and fell behind by seven, 14-7, and eventually the deficit grew to nine, 21-12. The Broncos made a late rally with a 4-1 run, including three Asque kills, to force Ohio State into timeout up by five, 22-17. The Buckeyes answered with three of the next four points to win the set, 25-18, and regain the lead, 2-1, in the match.
Western Michigan hit .241 in the set with 14 kills and seven errors, but Ohio State's offense picked back up to .452 with 16 kills and two errors. Asque had five more kills in the set, while Oliver had a match-high six digs in the third set.
WMU scored the first two points of the fourth as Ohio State hit its first serve in the net and Doyle hit an ace. The Buckeyes came back with the next eight points before WMU scored three in a row, 8-5, to stay within three. The Buckeyes quickly regained momentum with a 13-4 run to take a 21-9 lead before an Asque kill and OSU error stopped the run. The deficit proved to be too large and Ohio State put the Broncos away, 25-12.
The Broncos hit .-077 in the final set with a mere four kills and six errors, while Ohio State took care of business with 16 kills and hit .452.
