The atmosphere wasn’t quite like Opening Day at Wrigley Field or Yankee Stadium, but the Ohio State men’s volleyball team got everything it needed out of its first game of the season Monday night at St. John Arena.
In front of a sparse crowd of about 150 people, the Buckeyes beat the Concordia Clippers — a team composed entirely of international athletes — in three straight games (30-25, 30-28, 30-27) to kick off a year for which expectations are high.
But Monday night’s game was the start of more than just the 2003 season. It was the start of a new era for the team — the post-Pieter Olree era.
Olree, last year’s Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Player of the Year, is no longer around to serve as the team’s go-to guy. That leaves the squad with a couple different options of how to react.
One way is to attempt to fill his shoes by relying heavily on fifth-year senior Tom Trantow.
“This is his team,” coach Pete Hanson said of Trantow. “He’s our senior. He’s out there. As he goes, we’ll go, and so far he’s done a nice job.”
Trantow is not shying away from a leadership role or even being considered the team’s main threat, but he said he thinks the team can take a different direction.
“There’s a lot more distribution as far as our offense goes,” Trantow said. “Last year with Pieter, he was kind of the main guy, so we went to him a lot more than anybody else.
“Hopefully this year we won’t have to rely on one player as much because our team has a lot more talent,” he said. “That will definitely help us because other teams won’t be able to set up their defense on one guy.”
The balanced distribution was noticeable after a quick glance at Monday night’s box score. Trantow and freshman Mark Greaves tied for the team lead with 12 kills, and sophomore Mike Wauligman was close behind with 11.
Greaves showed signs of nervousness in his first collegiate game, but only while serving, where he recorded six service errors and no aces. He was, however, brilliant at the net, with only three errors in 21 attempts.
“He played really well. He just needs to keep up his confidence,” Trantow said of Greaves. “It definitely helps that he played well at the net tonight.
“I think serving, he just needs to find more consistency, but that will come,” Trantow said. “He said before the game he had some butterflies, but I think those went away after his first kill.”
Another freshman who will play a prominent role on the team is Andy Cole, but he was sidelined with an injury Monday night. Also out for the game was junior Ricardo Garcia, one of the more reliable outside hitters last season.
It’s easy to understand why the Buckeyes were happy to get past Concordia in three straight games.
“We’re going to have to work hard,” said junior Adam Pedersen. “We have a lot of young guys in the lineup and I think they’re going to need to mature as the year goes on. I think this team is going to peak at the right time, at the end of the season.”
So while they may not be at their peak just yet, the Buckeyes hope they have enough to secure another win tonight at 7 p.m. when they take on George Mason at home.
Two wins in two games and the team might start forgetting who Pieter Olree was.
