Ohio State junior setter Josie Vondran (4) gets ready for the ball to come back over the net. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Department of Athletics
Junior setter Josie Vondran was eating lunch at Rusty Taco in Dayton with her mother, Tracy Vondran, in February 2020 when she first voiced her thoughts of potentially transferring to play for Ohio State’s women’s volleyball team.
Just a year later, Josie Vondran finds herself on a 13-1 Ohio State team — who are off to their best start since 2013.
“As we were talking about it, I’m like, ‘I don’t know it might be something you want to pursue,’” Tracy Vondran said. “If you don’t, you’re going to be scratching your head for the rest of your life wondering, ‘Man, should I have taken that risk?’”
After her transferfrom Dayton, Josie Vondran is living out her childhood dream of playing for the Buckeyes. She said she is letting her faith and parents, who were also Ohio State athletes — mother Tracy Vondran played volleyball from 1989-92 and father Chris Vondran swam from 1990-91 — guide her along the way.
“My favorite part about playing at Ohio State is that I’m seeing my faith pay off in a huge way,” Josie Vondran said. “Making the decision to transfer was not an easy decision, and it took a lot of guts and prayer and dependency on God to really move forward.”
Josie Vondran’s first memory of Ohio State women’s volleyball was when she was 4 years old at St. John Arena for the 2003 team’s senior night ceremony.
She was ordered to hold a bouquet of flowers to give to the players after the seniors’ pregame celebration. Not knowing any better, she disrupted the ceremony by running up to her favorite player, former middle blocker Suzie Stiling, handing her the flowers instead.
Coming out of Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus, Josie Vondran said she was not heavily recruited, only receiving interest from West Florida, Buffalo, Southern Mississippi and Youngstown State.
She earned a late offer from Dayton, eventually committing April 30 of her senior year — the very last day she could have committed.
She said she intended to play for Dayton for all four years, but then Jen Flynn Oldenburg, who Tracy Vondran has known since Oldenburg’s playing days at Ohio State from 1996-99, was hired as the Buckeyes’ new women’s volleyball coach Jan. 17, 2020, putting a dent in her plan.
“She’s an amazing coach and a great setting coach, and 10-year-old Jo would be super mad at me if I didn’t try to take this opportunity,” Josie Vondran said.
Josie Vondran began weighing her options on why she should transfer to Ohio State, but ran into difficulties as to why she should stay at Dayton.
Josie Vondran’s competition at setter at Dayton, Brooke Westbeld, transferred to Indiana– which would have secured Vondran a starting role– she would lose her friendships that she built at Dayton and if she had not earned a spot on Ohio State’s roster, then she would have no school to play for in the 2021 season.
Ultimately, Vondran decided she wanted to put her lifelong dream of playing for Ohio State in motion and announced she was transferring out of Dayton May 4, 2020.
“I sometimes still look at myself in the jersey and I still can’t believe it, because I never would have expected as a senior in high school or a junior in the recruiting process to ever be playing at Ohio State,” Vondran said. “There’s a heck of a lot of pride, knowing that my roots within Ohio State volleyball have been so deep and now that I’m actually a part of it and living it, I’m still sometimes speechless.”
Vondran said she is grateful her parents supported her throughout her transfer, never pressuring her to go to Ohio State.
Having former Buckeye athletes for parents who can relate to similarities between their careers and hers and offer assurance to some situations that may seem out of the ordinary is helpful, Vondran said.
Tracy Vondran said Josie Vondran made the right decision to transfer, as the tough considerations helped build Josie’s character.
“When things are easy and handed to you your whole life, you get used to things being easy and handed to you, and I can tell you that Jo has worked hard for everything she has,” Tracy Vondran said.
