April 19, 2008

AURORA, Ill. - The Ohio volleyball team continued its spring schedule Saturday at the Sports Performance College Invitational at the Great Lakes Center. The Bobcats joined 23 other teams from around the country in one of the top tournament fields of the spring season.

"It is probably the premier tournament in the mid-west, and maybe the country," said Ohio Head Coach Ryan Theis. "There's a lot of high-level volleyball being played and a number of good teams in the field."

Ohio lost to Indiana State and Northwestern in the morning action, before entering bracket play in the afternoon, where the Bobcats lost to North Carolina, Illinois State and DePaul.

Despite the losses, Theis was able to take some positives away from the Bobcats' play. "We have been working on blocking in practice and today I think we touched significantly more balls on the block," said Theis. "We just weren't able to convert it into points and that's the next step we have to take. Our passing has also improved, but today we just didn't serve very well or play solid defense behind the block."

The field at the invitational included eight NCAA Tournament participants from a year ago and Mid-American Conference foes Miami (OH) and Kent State.

Next Saturday, April 26, the Bobcats will wrap up their spring schedule at the Cincinnati Tournament.