Ohio State women's volleyball opens NCAA Tournament with dominant sweep of Tennessee State

Forty five minutes before the Ohio State women’s volleyball team began its NCAA Tournament run, the players circled up at the center of their side of the court. Arm in arm, the players collectively took in two deep breaths.

The Buckeyes knew what was on the line. It’s what the team built its preseason schedule around, what it had been building up toward even through four straight losses to end the regular season. Ohio State wanted a deep NCAA Tournament run. The Buckeyes wanted to get past the Sweet 16.

Once the players let go of one another, it was time to begin that race.

Starting with a three-hit point to start the first round of the tournament against Tennessee State, assisted by Mac Podraza and killed by Gabby Gonzales, it was back to work for three-seed Ohio State (20-9), beating the Tigers (19-16) in straight sets 25-10, 25-14 and 25-15.

"We just knew that in order to win that game, we just had to play Buckeye volleyball," Ohio State outside hitter Rylee Rader said. "I think one big emphasis was to just play loose and free. So I think those two breaths just helped us calm down."

Ohio State’s three-set sweep of Tennessee State was its ninth straight-set win of the season, and the Buckeyes’ first since Rutgers on Oct. 15 where each set was decided by 10 or more points.

The Buckeyes will take on USC in the second round Saturday at the Covelli Center.

Rader Jenaisya Moore, Emily Londot and Gonzales shared the load up front for Ohio State, each recording double-digit kills and combining for 43 of the Buckeyes' 53 kills Friday night.

It was the fifth time in 2022 that Rader, Moore, Londot and Gonzales each had 10 or more kills in the same game.

"I think it says a lot about our offense," Ohio State coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg said. "Just the ability to get it to any hitter and them put the ball away. I know that was an emphasis that Mac and I talked about before the match is can we spread our offense and get back to that type of play because it creates so much pressure on the other side."

But Adria Powell was the one who set the tone, recording three kills in the Buckeyes’ initial five-point run to within the game, a lead which continued to swell before Londot, Podraza and Rader secured the 25-10 with a smooth three-touch set point.

Once Tennessee State secured its first point in the first set, the Tigers never came closer than four points to Ohio State, something Oldenburg said "set the tone for the tournament."

The dominance continued into the second set, using a five-point streak, beginning with a Rader kill, and winning eight of their final 12 serves to keep Tennessee State at arm’s length with a 25-14 set victory.

Podraza, the Big Ten setter of the year, proved to be in the middle of everything for the Buckeyes’ offense, totaling 40 of Ohio State's 48 assists against the Tigers.

Ohio State libero Kylie Murr, named as Big Ten defensive player of the year after breaking the school record for career digs, added 15 digs, coming into the game with an average of 4.74 digs per set.

Londot also recorded 10 digs, adding two blocks to her 10 kills. But to the junior, those stats are just a product of a group of upperclassmen comfortable playing with one another.

"Just playing together for that long," Londot said, "there's so much trust and confidence in each other that it doesn't matter who the ball goes to, we know we're getting that point because we trust every single one of our hitters to put the ball down and play the way that Buckeye volleyball is meant to be."

Gabrielle Johnson gave Tennessee State its first lead of the day in the second set with an unassisted kill, a lead that the Buckeyes watched grow to 4-1.

But once Moore secured her 10th kill of the day off a Podraza set, the Buckeyes were off, winning 11 of its next 12 serves to take a lead they would not lose, securing the 25-15 third-set victory and a date with the Trojans in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday.

As soon as she left the court Friday night, Oldenburg said she was already on to USC, thinking about a Trojans team that earned a straight-set victory against High Point in the first round.

But, to the Ohio State volleyball coach, it's nothing new for her team. It's just business as usual.

"I think it was like a 'Hooray,' stretch, and then, when we go in there, we're going to be talking about USC," Oldenburg said. But I think that's what the Big Ten prepares us for: a big match on Friday night then translate into how good are you on Saturday night?

"We get to respond tomorrow night against a good team, and I'm excited for that."

Ohio State will face six-seeded USC in the second round of the tournament 6 p.m. Saturday at the Covelli Center.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OSU women's volleyball sweeps Tennessee State to start NCAA Tournament