Ohio State BuckeyesSpring 2021 Overall Record: 16-4
Conference Record: 15-3 (4th)
NCAA Tournament Placement: Regional Semifinals (L, 1-3 vs. Florida)
Final AVCA Ranking: 10
Head Coach: Jen Flynn Oldenburg (2nd season at Ohio State)
Record at Ohio State: 16-4
Returning Starters:Vanja Bukilic - SR, 6'6 OH
Gabby Gonzales - JR, 6'3 OH
Hannah Gruensfelder - 5'6 DS/L
Emily Londot - SO, 6'3 RS
Kylie Murr - JR, 5'6 L
Mac Podraza - JR, 6'2 S
Rylee Rader - SO, 6'2 MB
Departures (* denotes starter):Lauren Witte* - 6'4 MB
Incoming Players:Arica Davis - FR, 6'2 MB
Meghan McCann - FR - 5'9 DS/L
Sydney Taylor - FR, 5'8 L
Sarah White - FR, 5'11 S
Spring 2021 Recap:Finally, it's time for the five-set fiesta.
Ohio State's spring season was all about perpetuating a meme, as everything the Buckeyes touched seemed to go to a tiebreaker. It all started on opening weekend with two five-set home contests against Maryland. The Buckeyes won them both.
Then, it was on to East Lansing, where Ohio State scored a sweep in the first match before winning another tiebreaker in the rematch. A return trip to Columbus was next, and the home team crushed Iowa to improve to 6-0.
Soon after, the Covelli Center welcomed Penn State for a mid-week fill-in match. The Nittany Lions won the first two sets before, of course, Ohio State stormed back and completed the reverse sweep.
Huff Hall was the next destination for the undefeated Buckeyes. Ohio State won the first contest in four sets and filled their five-set quota in the second. 9-0.
Back on the road to Rutgers. A quick sweep extended the win streak to ten. Then, only because it's fair, Ohio State and Rutgers went the distance in the second match. The Scarlet Knights were up 14-12 in the fifth set, but the Buckeyes scored four unanswered to preserve their unblemished record.
The road leg of the Penn State fill-ins was next. The Nittany Lions got smoked. To atone for such an unnaturally quick match, Ohio State went five sets in both of their matches against Nebraska. The road trip ended in a split, handing the Buckeyes their first loss.
Michigan was quickly dispatched. Purdue was not, as the Buckeyes showed some vulnerability in back-to-back losses.
Still, the regular season campaign was good enough for a ninth-overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Buckeyes swept Missouri in the second round before falling to Florida in the regional semifinals.
The Lineup:This was a young team last spring, and they underwent a few notable changes throughout the year.
Ohio State started out with
Mac Podraza at setter,
Gabby Gonzales at L1,
Jenaisya Moore at L2,
Lauren Witte at M1,
Adria Powell at M2,
Emily Londot at opposite, and
Kylie Murr at libero.
Sarah Sue Morbitzer was the primary DS and helped relieve Londot.
This lineup didn't last. The following week, Moore moved to L1 and
Vanja Bukilic entered the lineup at L2, replacing Gonzales.
Hannah Gruensfelder was now seeing an expanded role as Bukilic's DS. Meanwhile, during the five-set rematch against the Spartans, Powell gave way to
Rylee Rader at M2.
In the home match against Penn State, the Buckeyes came out in a lineup with Gonzales and a DS for Bukilic and Gruensfelder as a DS for Moore. Moore injured her ankle in the fifth set of that match, and Gonzales promptly returned to a six-rotation L2 role for the rest of the year (with a few exceptions).
Ohio State enters the fall season with only Witte departing. I'll be interested to see if Rader moves over to M1. Witte played in that spot for the entire spring, so somebody's gotta do it. For the other middle spot, we will either see the return of Powell or the emergence of true freshman
Arica Davis.
Everything else will likely hold from last season. The big question for this team is whether they can improve their consistency on the left side, especially at L2. Gonzales hit .127 on the year, and Bukilic had some off matches, including the regional semifinal against Florida. Can someone take some pressure off Londot? Podraza, to her credit, did a great job of feeding the middles to make up for some deficits on the left side. That has to continue, even without Witte.
The Schedule:The non-conference slate is...meh. For tournament seeding purposes, there's a lot riding on that Washington match on opening weekend. You really want that crown jewel win to make up for the fact that the rest of your pre-conference lineup is underwhelming.
On to conference:
The Verdict:Is this a safe place to talk about regression toward the mean?
Seriously, though, Ohio State's tendency to play five-set matches with just about everybody last spring leaves this team's future open to several different trains of thought. They scrapped with some of the best in the conference and won. They battled with some of the worst in the conference and won. At which end of the spectrum does this team find itself this fall?
If you're a pessimist, you look at Ohio State's incredibly high success rate in close matches last season and conclude that it likely won't be replicated. The Buckeyes are "due" for more losses.
On the optimist's side, though, perhaps there's a real quality about this Buckeye team that makes them thrive under pressure.
Here's what I know, or at least what I think and would like to project as divine truth. Ohio State has proven its worth. This team has demonstrated that it has the talent to compete with top teams.
The floor for this squad might continue to be a little shaky. Again, some steady production at L2, or just the left side as a whole, would help a lot.
At the end of the day, this is still a team that brings back almost everyone. That continuity, in itself, could help minimize the mediocre performances.
If things go well for Ohio State this fall, they should be battling for a top 16 seed in the NCAA tournament by the end of the year.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/W34E6WUZKNAYPJECX7XWMXTMRM.JPG)
