The Ohio State Buckeyes celebrate after a kill during their game against Maryland on Jan. 23. Ohio State won 3-2. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
The Buckeyes closed out their series against Maryland with another 3-2 win on Saturday at the Covelli Center.
Ohio State claimed the series over Maryland to open its season and the tenure of head coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg. Winning consecutive matches in the fifth set, Oldenburg said the resolve of her team stood out.
“Takeaways from this weekend is that we will fight, and we even talked about it in the locker room, ‘honor, defend, we will fight to the end’ and we did it both nights so that’s exciting,” Oldenburg said.
Three Buckeyes held double-digit kills and digs including freshman outside hitter Emily Londot who finished with17 kills and 11 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Jenaisya Moore closely followed with 15 kills and13 digs, while sophomore outside hitter Gabby Gonzales collected 11 kills and 16 digs.
Maryland gave a strong challenge right from the start, securing set one, 24-26, from a kill made by junior middle blocker Jada Gardner. Gardner had six kills during the first set and senior outside hitter Erika Pritchard had seven.
The Terrapins began set two by coming out strong with a four point lead, with two kills made by Pritchard and one from Gardner.
The Buckeyes were able to recover with kills made by Moore, junior outside hitter Adria Powell and sophomore setter Mac Podraza to bring the set to a tie. The set was hard fought as the two teams tied seven times during it, until the Buckeyes were able to take it 25-19.
During set three, the Buckeyes fought hard and put pressure on Maryland, but sophomore outside hitter Rebekah Rath tied up the set until the Buckeyes were able to secure it with a kill by Londot and a service ace by Gonzales ending it at 26-24.
The Buckeyes held a 14-7 lead in the fourth set, but the Terrapins were able to recover and secure their second set win, 26-24.
While going into the fifth set with both teams 2-2, Oldenburg stressed her players to play loose and free.
“I try to keep it loose, I try to keep it light and the team has really responded well to that style,” Oldenburg said. “They have the ability to go out and have a terrible swing and a terrible error and then we just go ‘okay what’s next’ and then they are going for it on the next point instead of tight and timid again.”
During the fifth set, the Buckeyes were able to bring a win from a service ace by Podraza and an attack error.
Oldenburg said that she hopes her team can continue to minimize errors and maintain the same energy and momentum for a longer period of time as the season progresses. Oldenburg said that her team’s talent is good, but that they will have to work hard in every match.
The Buckeyes were scheduled to play against Penn State on Tuesday in State College, Pennsylvania, but due to a positive COVID-19 result from Penn State’s Tier 1 personnel, the match was rescheduled to Thursday.
