COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State (17-6 overall, 5-5 Big Ten) women's volleyball team, behind a match-high 21.5 points from Katie Dull, defeated Indiana (14-10, 3-7), 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 23-25, 25-23) Saturday night in St. John Arena. Dull recorded a match-high 19 kills adding one ace serve and three assist blocks. Ashley Benson had a team-high 17 points for Indiana with 12 kills, three ace serves and four assist blocks.
Ohio State broke a 1-1 tie in set one with a Dull kill and two Indiana errors to take a 4-1 lead. The Hoosiers were able to cut the lead to one at 7-6, but a Dull kill, an Ashley Hughes-Kelli Barhorst block and a Barhorst kill opened a 10-6 Buckeye lead. Leading, 18-14, an Indiana error, a solo block by Kristen Dozier and a kill from Dull took the lead to seven at 21-14. A Benson-Mary Chaudoin block and a kill from Hughes made it 22-15. Kills from Jordan Haverly and Hughes made it 23-16. Ohio State reached set point with an Indiana error at 24-16. The Hoosiers stopped three set points with kills from Haverly and Whitney Thomas and a Samantha Thrower-Thomas block cut the margin to five at 24-19. The Buckeyes won the set, 25-19 with a Barhorst kill to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Ohio State hit .193 for the set to .111 for the Hoosiers.
With seven ties and five lead changes, set two was tied at seven when back-to-back kills from Dull and a Hughes-Barhorst block gave Ohio State a 10-7 lead. The Hoosiers close to within one several times, the last at 23-22 when a Barhorst kill gave Ohio State set point at 24-22. The Buckeyes, with an Emily Danks kill, won the set, 25-22, to take a 2-0 lead in the match. OSU hit .576 for the set to .457 for Indiana.
Tied at three in set three, Indiana scored the next seven points starting with a kill from Haverly and three ace serves from Benson. The run continued with a solo block by Taylor Wittmer, an OSU error and a Chaudoin-Wittmer block to open a 10-3 Indiana lead. Trailing, 20-13, a Hoosier error, an ace serve from Danks and a kill from Anna Szerszen forced an IU time out at 20-16. A Hughes-Dozier block cut the Indiana lead to three at 20-17. Trailing 23-19, Ohio State tied the set with four consecutive points. The run began with a Barhorst-Dull block, a Dull kill, an IU error and a kill from Danks. A Buckeye error gave the Hoosiers set point at 24-23. Indiana won the set, 25-23, with a Haverly-Wittmer block to trail in the match, 2-1. The Hoosiers hit .171 for the set to .121 for Ohio State.
A Caitlin Cox ace serve and a kill from Haverly opened set four giving Indiana a 2-0 lead. At 3-1, two kills from Szerszen tied the set at three. At six-all, two Barhorst kill and a Chelsea Noble ace serve gave Ohio State a 9-6 lead. Trailing, 13-10, Indiana scored the next five points to take a 15-13 lead. The run began with a Haverly kill and a Benson-Haverly block. A Kelsey Hall ace serve, an OSU error and a Chaudoin solo block made it 15-13, IU. A kill from Danks and an IU error tied the set at 15. Tied at 19, a Barhorst kill and a Hoosier error put Ohio State ahead, 21-19. Kills from Thomas and Dull moved the score to 22-20, OSU. The Buckeyes took a 23-20 lead with a Danks-Barhorst block. Two OSU errors cut the lead to one at 23-22. The Buckeyes reached match point with a kill from Danks at 24-22. Indiana stopped the match point with a kill from Chaudoin. The Buckeyes won the set, 25-23, with a kill from Danks to win the match, 3-1. Ohio State hit .205 for the set to .143 for Indiana.
For the match, Ohio State hit .291 to .210 for Indiana. The Buckeyes had a 64-52 advantage in kill while the Hoosiers edged OSU, 8-7 in ace serves. The Buckeyes gave up eight service errors to five for the Hoosiers. Defensively, Ohio State had a 79-61 margin in digs. OSU's Noble posted a match-high 21 digs in the contest. At the net, each squad posted nine team blocks. Dozier recorded a match-high five total blocks for the Buckeyes with two solos and three assists. OSU's Hughes posted a match-high 53 assists while Chaudoin recorded 31 and Whitney Granado had 14 for the Hoosiers.
Ohio State returns to the road next Wednesday when they face top-ranked Penn State at 7 p.m. ET in a match that will be carried live by the Big Ten Network. The Buckeyes then return home to host Minnesota at 7 p.m. Saturday in St. John Arena.
### OhioStateBuckeyes.com ###
