I went to see Ohio take on #11 Pepperdine at the Flyer Classic. The Bobcats were swept 16-25, 18-25 and 14-25. That last set was worse than the score indicates as Pepperdine got out to a 20-5 lead. I don't want to overreact because Pepperdine is highly rated, it's early and I'm told Ohio is young. But that was as non-competitive as I've ever seen Ohio be. 

It doesn't get much easier as they face #7 Illinois tomorrow and Dayton on Sunday. BTW, Dayton swept Illinois in the evening match.

Looks like a better result against #7 Illinois. Lost 3-1 but scores were close. They face host Dayton today at 1 PM. The Flyers have knocked off Pepperdine and Illinois.

OHIO loses to Dayton 3-1 in a competitive match.

The bad news is they are now 0-3. However, they played 3 nationally ranked teams and gave 2 of them a decent match. Hopefully the experience will be beneficial and there will be a strong learning curve.

From the stats, it's going to be a new look with 3 freshmen (Abby Gilleland, Meredith Ashy, and Carley Jones) being key players, along with soph Serena Warner to help bolster last year's returning core players.

Things don't get  any easier as No. 13 Kentucky and No. 20 Oregon invade the Convo. 

it's Kentucky Friday at 7:00. Hopefully a big turnout.

It feels like we've been young for three years now. Far cry from the days it seemed like we were always throwing juniors and seniors out there.

I attended the match today and they looked a lot better than Friday. Blocking was much better. Still don't have much of an attack at the net. Setting was all over the place. But they looked much more calm today and a couple of the freshman I thought played well. Dayton returned 11 of 12 players from last year's NCAA squad. Hopefully, that's what Ohio is putting together now. 

Let me suggest the negative comments are misleading.  The Cats started a freshman setter, a freshman libero, three sophomore hitters and two senior hitters -- including 3 preseason all-MAC selections.  It is going to take some time before this team clicks on all cylinders.  That said, the improvement from match one to match three was very evident.  In case you missed it, Illinois was ranked no. 7 coming in and finished 1-2 in the tournament -- with losses every bit as tough as OU's (swept by Pepperdine ... check out the scores ... and swept by Dayton).  As well, the Dayton arena/crowd was outstanding -- very loud and a certain home-court advantage.  The Convo should be rocking Friday night and the crowd will not be disappointed.  Kentucky, as mentioned, is very good and a loud crowd could be a difference-maker.  Unlike many schools, there are few (If any) "cream puffs" on Ohio's pre-conference schedule.  The Bobcats are going to win lots of matches this season -- get on board now!  With a play here or there, they could have easily taken both Illinois and Dayton to a deciding 5th set.