Ohio State hopes to continue mastery of Lady Vols in volleyball

The first one is often the toughest one.

Ohio State fought through it Thursday and looks forward to the second one, even though it means playing Tennessee before a home crowd.

The Buckeyes prevailed, 25-23, 25-27, 25-21, 25-18, over Middle Tennessee State in the NCAA volleyball tournament's opening round.

The Buckeyes (19-13) are happy to be back at Thompson-Boling Arena tonight at 7. MTSU ends its season at 21-12.

"We scrambled and we fought,'' said Ohio State's star hitter, Mari Hole. "We didn't play as good as we can. We fought through it as a team. That's what got us through the game at the end.

"I think it will be a lot more fun (against Tennessee). Today we kind of had to bring our own energy on the court, which is difficult when you play in such a big gym. Everything just goes away.''

There will be a pro-Tennessee crowd in that big gym tonight.

"There's going to be a lot more energy from the crowd,'' said Hole, who is from Oslo, Norway. "Of course they're going to be supporting their team but that will bring us some energy too.

"It's always fun to play at someone's place because you know it's going to be a good environment.''

Ohio State is 7-0 against Tennessee in a variety of environments.

The two haven't met since the 2004 NCAA regional semifinals when the Buckeyes ended a brilliant Lady Vols season at 32-3. In that match in Minneapolis, Tennessee won the first two sets but lost the next three.

That's ancient history, of course. It's this year's 28-3 UT team that concerns Ohio State coach Geoff Carlston.

"They don't have a lot of weaknesses,'' he said. "We'll have to play aggressive and have some great ball control because they're so offensive as a team. They're hard to stop.''

Thursday's Ohio State win denied two local Blue Raiders a chance for a second game close to home. MTSU's setter, Morgan Peterson, is from Seymour and Halie Vannoy is from Morristown East.

"Middle Tennessee has a really good team,'' Carlston said. "People don't know how good they are. In the volleyball world, everybody knows how good they are.

"I'm happy we came out in games three and four with a little more energy. Because I thought they won game two by being flat out more aggressive than we were.''