The Ohio State Women’s Volleyball team stands together to sing Carmen Ohio after the Ohio State-Michigan game on March 19. Ohio State won 3-1. Credit: Sophie Yates | For the Lantern
In only the second all-time meeting between the Buckeyes and Tigers, the Ohio State women’s volleyball team swept its way past Missouri, advancing to the regional semifinals in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.
The Buckeyes opened tournament play with 3-0 victory over Missouri Thursday in the CHI Health Center (25-17, 25-20, 25-21). In an unprecedented year with the tournament’s qualifying teams cut down from 64 teams to 48, the Buckeyes had to work around obstacles, but they pushed on following their mantra of playing loose and free and controlled their side of the court, sophomore outside hitter Gabby Gonzales said.
“It felt surreal honestly. We’ve been having this as a goal when we first stepped on the court,” Gonzales said. “In fall, we weren’t even sure we were going to have a season, and so now to just kind of feel it’s all here, all of a sudden, it was awesome, it was great to be out with the team.”
Freshman opposite hitter Emily Londot led the Buckeyes with 13 kills and a .346 hitting percentage, while Gonzales added 12 kills and eight digs.
“Honestly, my team was helping me out a lot,” Gonzales said. “I had great defenders telling me where to hit, great sets from Mac Podraza and just some sets from everyone, people on the bench telling me what’s open on the court, so really it was a big team effort there.”
The Buckeyes provided a powerful force behind the net for Missouri, with the Tigers only being able to hold a 4-3 point lead in just the beginning of the first set. The Buckeyes dug 47 balls with senior defensive specialist Hannah Gruensfelder leading her team totaling 11.
For the Tigers, senior outside hitter Kylie Deberg recorded 17 kills and six digs with sophomore outside hitter Anna Dixon following, garnering eight kills. Deberg forced the Buckeyes into making adjustments on their end of the court by attempting to slow her down with blocks and touches, head coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg said.
“The mentality and the mindset that we talked about, ‘Next play, next play, next play,’ they did a great job of that because sometimes you get bounced on it’s like, ‘Oh no, it just put a hole in the floor,’ and it kind of rocks your world, but they didn’t let that affect that,” Oldenburg said. “So, good job for our team to move on to the next.”
In the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016, Oldenburg pushed her team to be adaptable playing against Missouri. Ohio State had nine blocks, 45 kills and only 12 attack errors.
“This is new for everybody, and again, to our advantage, everything’s new. New staff OK great, we’re gonna try this, where I’m not opposed to try new things and about this is a year of curveballs and we’re ready to hit on because everything’s been a little bit unorthodox,” Oldenburg said.
The Buckeyes will return to play Sunday against the winner of the Morehead State-Florida match.
