Sophomore Chelsea Thorpe (7) tries to loft a ball over two defenders Wednesday night at the Covelli Center. Ohio State was swept by No. 1 Wisconsin in three sets. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor
After a long span of road games for Ohio State, the Wisconsin defense thwarted a Buckeye homecoming.
The No. 22 Ohio State women’s volleyball team (4-8, 1-2 Big Ten) fell in straight sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-18) to No. 1 Wisconsin (12-0, 3-0 Big Ten) Wednesday.
As a team, the Buckeyes hit .141 in the loss against a suffocating Badger defense that tallied nine blocks and 44 digs, led by 6-foot-7 sophomore middle blocker Carter Booth’s eight blocks.
“Size threw us for a loop,” head coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg said. “We knew they were going to be big and tall, but they’re good at the net defensively.”
This was the first home match for Ohio State since Sept. 2, coming off a six-game road trip where the Buckeyes went 1-5.
“It’s been tiring being on the road for so long,” freshman libero Kaitlyn Hoffman said.
Despite the loss, Hoffman had a good defensive night, picking up a team-high 10 digs for the Buckeyes. This performance was one piece of what’s been a standout season for her — one that even she didn’t see coming.
“I didn’t even expect to be here, to make it [Division 1],” Hoffman said. “It’s been insane, and I’m just glad that everyone’s been supportive and helping me through that.”
Alongside Hoffman’s performance, sophomore setter and West Virginia transfer Kamiah Gibson provided an impact of her own after freshman setter Mia Tuman went down in the third set with what looked to be an ankle injury.
“She’s [Gibson’s] put the work in and the team really trusts her,” Oldenburg said.
Gibson picked up three digs with a block and five assists in her lone set of action.
“I was ready to go in, ready to play for my teammates,” Gibson said.
The opening set was an entirely Wisconsin-led affair, getting up to an 8-point lead at multiple points. Ohio State rallied a bit towards the end, scoring four in a row, including a point on a failed challenge at set point by Badger head coach Kelly Sheffield.
The Buckeyes picked up a few key digs to help that effort, but Wisconsin stuck it out to win the first set 25-19.
“It frustrates other teams when our defense is solid, but we just didn’t do it long enough,” Oldenburg said.
Ohio State came out swinging in the second frame, jumping out to an 8-3 lead capitalized by an ace from the senior middle blocker Rylee Rader. That didn’t stop the Badgers as they went on a run of their own to tie at 13-13.
From then on, Wisconsin didn’t let up its lead, holding off the Buckeye attack to a .121 hitting percentage, winning 25-20.
Ohio State began the third set up 3-0, but after that point, Wisconsin came back big, leading the rest of the match. The Badgers hit an efficient .321 clip in the final set to earn a 25-18 win to end the match.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” Gibson said. “But I’m proud of our fight throughout the whole match.”
The Buckeyes will continue their Big Ten homestand Sunday against Maryland at noon.
