Column: Spotlight on Ohio State women's volleyball

In case you haven’t heard, Ohio State has more sports teams other than football. REALLY GOOD sports teams too. The women’s volleyball team is currently ranked No. 7 in the country with a 16-2 overall record, and is a perfect 8-0 at home. As a result of their stellar play, I think that they deserve the spotlight shown on them this week.

This volleyball team has quietly been the talk of the town. They started their season 10-0 before suffering their first loss to Purdue, who is currently ranked No. 6 in the country. It has been a really fun team to watch the past month and a half, with a lot of big moments.

The second match of the Buckeyes’ season, who were ranked No. 11 at the time, faced off against No. 4 Washington. After a four-set thriller at Nationwide Arena, Ohio State became the first team in the country to defeat a top-five opponent this season.

After traveling to Lubbock, Texas for the Red Raider Classic in the first week of September, the Buckeyes won all three of their matches to win the tournament. Following this huge win, Ohio State earned their highest ranking since 1994, moving up to No. 4 in the polls.

Moving to the middle of the season, the Bucks swept James Madison and VCU, then beat Virginia to move to an 8-0 record. This led to Ohio State’s highest ranking EVER in program history, sliding right up into the No. 3 spot!

Beating Notre Dame in a home-and-home series, the Buckeyes officially won 10 straight matches to start their season. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and Purdue became the first team to be victorious against Ohio State in a five set battle in West Lafayette. This led right into another loss against Penn St., which dropped OSU to eighth in the rankings.

The Buckeyes returned home from that road trip and haven’t looked back. They swept Indiana and Maryland, which bumped them up one spot in the polls. Then came the battle against the two teams from that state up north. First off came a sweep against Sparty. Next, on alumni day in a Covelli Center sell-out, the Bucks swept TTUN! This was in front of the largest crowd in Covelli history— 4,098 screaming fans.

Another huge win came on Friday night against No. 6 Purdue— revenge, at last. Finally, on Saturday night in the form of a one hour and 12 minute match, OSU rolled over Rutgers for their 12th sweep of the season.

A few quick facts about some of the key players on this team:

— Gabby Gonzales recorded her 500th career dig. She’s the 35th player in program history to record 500 digs and 500 kills.

— Hannah Gruensfelder moved up to fourth on Ohio State’s all-time record list with 1,347 career digs after recording seven against Michigan.

— Kylie Murr surpassed head coach Jen Flynn Oldenberg’s career digs total and moved into 13th all-time with 1,150 career digs, also against Michigan.

The Buckeyes face off against No. 3 Wisconsin on Friday night at 9 p.m. on Big Ten Network. This will certainly be a pivotal match for Ohio State, and I hope that you will now become invested and tune in after reading about their success this season!