No. 21 Buckeyes Defeat West Virginia, 3-0, to Win Mountaineer Invitational 

Ohio State’s Mari Hole posts a career-high 19 kills in 25-20, 25-16, 25-20 victory

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State (4-0 overall) women’s volleyball team finished play in the West Virginia Mountaineer Invitational with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-20) victory over the host Mountaineers (1-2) to capture the title. Buckeye Mari Hole posted a career-high 20 points with a career-high 19 kills (.486) and one ace serve. Emily Danks added 12.5 points with 10 kills (.250) and five assist blocks. For West Virginia, Kylie Armbruster and Anke De Jong shared team-high honors in points with nine each. Armbruster recorded seven kills (.000), one ace serve and one solo block while De Jong collected eight kills (.120) and one ace serve.

From a seven-all tie in set one, Ohio State had kills from Mariah Booth and Hole and two blocks from Danks and Booth to take an 11-7 lead. Three Buckeye errors cut the margin to one at 11-10 OSU. Kills from Kaitlyn Leary and Booth gave OSU a 13-10 lead. At 16-13, two kills from Hole forced a West Virginia time out at 18-13. The Buckeyes continued the run with a Kelli Barhorst-Amanda Peterson block, a Barhorst-Leary block and a Mountaineer error to take a 21-13 lead. A De Jong kill, an Armbruster block and an OSU error cut the lead to five at 21-16. A Leary kill and a WVU error made it 23-16. An OSU error made it 23-17. The Buckeye reached set point at 24-17 with a kill from Booth. West Virginia stopped two set points with a De Jong kill and a Halle Kearney-Even McCoy block to make it 24-19. Ohio State won the set, 25-20, with a kill from Danks to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Ohio State hit .194 for the set to -.088 for West Virginia.

Set two was close early with seven ties to reach eight-all. Kills from Leary and Danks gave OSU a 10-8 lead. West Virginia responded with a Kearney kill and an Armbruster ace serve to tie the set at 10. Another Kearney kill gave the Mountaineers an 11-10 lead. Ohio State scored the next nine points to open a 19-11 lead. The run began with a kill from Danks to tie the set at 11. Kills from Danks and Hole, a Danks-Barhorst block plus kills from Hole and Barhorst forced a WVU time out at 16-11. The run continued with a kill from Danks, an Alyssa Winner ace serve and a WVU error. Two OSU errors and one from West Virginia made it 20-13. A kill from Hole and two Mountaineer errors gave Ohio State a 23-13 lead. A De Jong kill made it 23-14. OSU reached set point at 24-14 with a kill from Hole. West Virginia, with a kill and ace serve from De Jong stopped two set points to make the score 24-16. The Buckeyes closed out the set, 25-16, with a Leary kill, to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Ohio State hit .481 for the set to .097 for the Mountaineers.

With West Virginia trailing, 3-2 in the third set, an OSU error tied the set at three. A Serine Russo ace serve and a McCoy kill gave the Mountaineers a 5-3 lead. Leading, 8-7 kills from Armbruster and Michelle Kopecky gave WVU a three point lead at 10-7. Following an OSU time out, a Leary kill, a Booth-Leary block, a Booth kill and two WVU errors gave OSU a 12-10 lead. At 13-11, a kill from Danks and a WVU error gave OSU a 15-11 lead. Kills from Armbruster and Booth made it 16-12. A Mountaineer error and a kill from Hole gave OSU an 18-12 lead. West Virginia, with a Kearney kill, a McCoy solo block and three Buckeye errors cut the OSU lead to one at 18-17. Ohio State responded with three consecutive kills from Hole to lead 21-17. A De Jong kill and an OSU error cut the margin to 21-19. Hole made it 23-19 with a kill and her ace serve. A Buckeye error made it 23-20. A Barhorst-Peterson block gave Ohio State match point at 24-20. The Buckeyes, with a Peterson-Booth block, won the set, 25-20, to win the match, 3-0. Ohio State hit .190 for the set to .079 for West Virginia.

For the match, Ohio State hit .267 to .029 for West Virginia. OSU had a 46-26 advantage in kills and a 44-26 margin in assists. Peterson produced a match-high 36 assists for OSU with Kari Post recording a team-high 15 for West Virginia. The Mountaineers had a 3-2 edge in ace serves. Defensively, the Buckeyes had a 47-36 advantage in digs with OSU’s Sarah Mignin recording a match-high 16. WVU’s Russo recorded a team-high 12 digs. At the net, Ohio State had an 11 to four margin in team blocks. OSU’s Barhorst posted a match-high six assist blocks with Danks and Booth adding five assists each.

Ohio State’s Hole and Leary have been named to the All-Tournament team which will be finalized after the three Invitational matches Sunday.

The Buckeyes will travel to Honolulu, Hawaii next week to play in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic. OSU faces host No. 10 Hawaii Thursday at 7 p.m. HT, No. 11 UCLA Friday at 5 p.m. HT and No. 22 Long Beach State Sunday at 3 p.m. HT.