The No. 3 seed Ohio State women’s volleyball team celebrates during the first round of the NCAA Tournament game between Ohio State and Tennessee State. Ohio State won 3-0. Credit: Katie Good | Asst. Photo Editor
The No. 3-seed Ohio State women’s volleyball team’s pursuit of a national championship remains alive and will advance to its third-straight Sweet 16 after ending the home season by way of the sweep over sixth-seeded USC at the Covelli Center Saturday.
Ohio State (21-9, 15-5 Big Ten) ended the regular season on four-straight losses but closed its home season at the Covelli Center with back-to-back sweeps to begin the NCAA tournament. Senior defensive specialist Kylie Murr said the postgame feeling was “awesome.”
“Especially my last game at Covelli, there’s just no other way I would want to go out of here,” Murr said. “I loved every second of it.”
The squads traded the early advantage back-and-forth tying eight times and swapping the lead five times, but the Trojans (22-11, 13-7 Pac-12) held a 15-13 lead into the media timeout. USC pushed the lead to three, but two kills and a Buckeye block gave Ohio State the lead back, and the Buckeyes held on to take the first set 25-22.
The Buckeyes hit .417 in the first set, but the Trojans were hitting well, ending the first at .310. Both squads collected 13 kills in the opening set, but USC senior outside hitter Skylar Fields led all hitters with five in the set and the match with 14.
“I think at the beginning we were struggling with defensive pride, and I knew I needed to get the defense going and once that happened we were lights out,” Murr said.
Ohio State extended its lead multiple times as its offense shot through the middle of the court to earn three of its first five kills in the set, taking a 6-10 lead into the first Trojan timeout. Murr said the Buckeyes’ message was to keep their foot on the gas throughout the game, doing that by taking the second set 25-17.
The Buckeye defense held the Trojans to a sub-.150 hitting percentage while collecting 15 digs. Murr collected four digs in the set, leading all players in the match with 14.
“We want more,” Murr said. “We don’t want 13 [points], 14. We want 25, so just keep the foot on the gas.”
Ohio State’s offense continued firing on all cylinders, jumping out to a 14-5 lead forcing USC to use its second timeout of the third set. The Trojans fell behind by 12 points, but their season would not end there, scoring four points consecutively on match-point but ultimately dropping the set 25-16.
Senior outside hitter Gabby Gonzales went 4-6 in the third set, going 9-19 hitting .421 for the match. The Trojans hit .184 in the set, with the Buckeyes collecting 21 digs of their 41 in the match.
“I’m just proud of how we out-teammed them,” Gonzales said. “We worked together and really showed what Buckeye volleyball is.”
Happy goodbyes
Ohio State went 9-5 at the Covelli Center this year, going 2-4 against top-25 teams.
Gonzales said there were happy and sad emotions after the match. She said the atmosphere changed in the past four years, and she wants to leave a legacy.
“We always talk, us seniors, about leaving a legacy when we came here,” Gonzales said. “The program wasn’t where we wanted it to be, and we’ve made strides to make it better.”
A third trip to the Sweet 16
With the win, the Buckeyes will travel to Austin, Texas, for their third-consecutive Sweet 16 appearance with losses coming each of the previous two times.
Murr said she is ready for more than the Sweet 16.
“I want nothing more than to go past the Sweet 16 and get past the stigma that Ohio State can’t get past the Sweet 16,” Murr said.
Oldenburg said the feeling after the second-round win last season was relief, but this year’s team has a focused feeling.
Oldenburg said as long as the Buckeyes focus on themselves, they will be hard to beat.
“I’m excited to make the trip, but it’s important to always focus on us, and our team does a really good job of that,” Gonzales said.
Up next
Ohio State will play No. 2-seed Minnesota for the third time this season on Thursday. The winner of that match draws the winner of No. 1-seed Texas and No. 4-seed Marquette.
Oldenburg said the schedule throughout the year has prepared her team for success during this final stretch of the season.
“Those battles early on in the season and throughout the Big Ten have really prepared us,” Oldenburg said. “I don’t know that there’s any other team that’s more prepared.”
