Ohio State women’s volleyball NCAA tournament vs Tennessee State. Ohio State won 3-0. Credit: Katie Good | Asst. Photo Editor
Just a year ago, the Ohio State women’s volleyball team made a deep run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.
However, this season the Buckeyes found themselves on the outside looking in for the first time in head coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg’s tenure as their head coach. Ohio State finished the 2023 season with an 11-18 record while going 8-12 in the Big Ten.
“It sucks to lose,” Oldenburg said. “After three seasons of winning, our upperclassmen aren’t used to it, our freshmen coming in, they’re not used to losing.”
The journey began swimmingly for the Buckeyes as they started the season in the Northern Kentucky University Tournament in Highland Heights, Kentucky. Ohio State participated in a three-game slate, squaring off against Northern Kentucky in the opener, then Bowling Green and East Tennessee State University to round out the tournament.
Senior outside hitter Emily Londot said the first stretch of games was key to getting their younger players into a groove.
“It helped the underclassmen get a feel for what college volleyball was about,” Londot said. “It helped us get comfortable on the court as a team.”
The Buckeyes knocked off all three squads to begin the season, sweeping the first and last matches and beating Bowling Green in five sets in the second match. After an undefeated start, Ohio State would face its first test of the season, hosting then-No. 11 Georgia Tech for a weekend series.
The Buckeyes lost both matches by a 3-1 score, but they were hard-fought, with only three of the sets decided by a margin of more than 5 points.
During the series, Ohio State lost a freshman standout in outside hitter Grace Egan for the rest of the season after an ankle sprain, which later turned out to be broken. Oldenburg said she was a pivotal part of the team.
“It was a big hit for our program,” Oldenburg said. “There were a lot of expectations for her, and she was going to carry a big load in serve receive and defense.”
To make matters worse, Egan had recently come off an injury before the season started, Oldenburg said.
“She was also coming back from a pretty significant knee injury and to have her back on the court was a big deal, so to lose her it was hard on our team,” Oldenburg said.
However, the challenges wouldn’t stop there for Ohio State. The two-match slate versus Georgia Tech would be the first two in a nine-match stretch where eight of its opponents were ranked in the top 25.
“It was a lot to take on, but with the results we were getting, we were getting better,” Oldenburg said.
The gauntlet continued away from home in the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge, hosted in Stanford, California. The Buckeyes were swept in their first match against No. 5 Stanford. They then faced off against No. 6 Oregon in the second match, losing 3-1 after tying the score 1-1.
After the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge, Ohio State wouldn’t see home for another two weeks, traveling to face No. 6 Texas, No. 18 Baylor, No. 2 Nebraska and unranked Iowa in its final match of the road trip.
“Those road trips can get really hard, but we try to make the best of them,” Londot said. “We play games on our phones, we sing songs, we make the most of it.”
The Buckeyes went 1-3, grabbing their win against Iowa before coming home to host a powerhouse program in Wisconsin.
“Certainly you want more wins, and I think there were chances to get some of those, but we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities,” Oldenburg said.
One of those opportunities came against the No. 1 ranked Badgers, but Ohio State would lose in straight sets, all while losing standout freshman setter Mia Tuman in the process.
Tuman suffered a lower-body injury, another blow to the Buckeyes as they began a tough Big Ten schedule. The Buckeyes hosted Maryland without Tuman in their next match, winning in straight sets with sophomore setter Kamiah Gibson helming the offense.
“You reevaluate and you re-adjust, and I think the players in our program are ready for that,” Oldenburg said.
Tuman came back the next match, splitting time with Gibson in a 3-1 victory over Rutgers away from home.
After Rutgers, the Buckeyes endured a 1-4 stretch that included three more ranked opponents in No. 15 Penn State, No. 14 Purdue, No. 1 Wisconsin and a strong Indiana team.
The lone victory came in four sets over Illinois at home, and the Buckeyes suffered again in a five-set Indiana loss.
After that match, another freshman star would go down in libero Kaitlyn Hoffman. Before a lower-body injury of her own, Hoffman was leading the team in digs per set and wouldn’t see the court for the rest of the season after the injury.
Senior libero Sarah Sue Morbitzer took the main libero spot and sophomore defensive specialist Anna McClure slotted in Morbitzer’s previous defensive specialist spot as the Buckeyes went on to sweep Northwestern at home.
“The theme for the season was consistency, and when we had it we were really good,” Oldenburg said.
From then on, the final stretch wasn’t kind to the Buckeyes, as they’d go 3-6 in their last nine with only one matchup coming against a ranked opponent. The final part of the season would unfortunately yield another injury, this time with senior middle blocker Rylee Rader suffering an ankle injury in practice before their 3-1 win over Indiana at home.
Rader would sit out the rest of the season, and despite solid play in the middle from sophomore Zaria Ragler in her place, the injury placed an exclamation point on the tough season.
Ohio State ended on a high note, beating Rutgers 3-1 at home and sending off seniors Morbitzer and Anna Morris in a positive way.
Oldenburg said despite the tough season, the team showed its grit and determination by sticking together.
“I don’t think we ever fractured,” Oldenburg said. “There could’ve been a lot of discord on the team, but they fought together, it was a testament to how they believed in each other.”
