The Ohio women’s volleyball team was slated to win the East Division of the Mid-American Conference in a preseason coaches’ poll.
The poll, of which officials announced results Tuesday, placed perennial-favorite Ball State as the winner of the West Division and the overall MAC champion. Head OU volleyball coach Geoff Carlston said that places Ohio in about second place overall — the highest Ohio has ever been ranked. Carlston said this is a feat in a conference with so many talented teams.
“The MAC as a whole is going to be very strong,” Carlston said. “Akron beat us last year, so they’ll be strong again, Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois are getting a lot stronger, Ball State is the one that traditionally has been very strong.”
The volleyball team finished last season at 25-9 and advanced to the MAC tournament semi-finals. Carlston attributes their success to their athleticism and enthusiasm.
“They started realizing that they can be pretty good,” he said. “Once you start having success it creates more success — they realized they have a lot of talent and they can compete and perform.”
Carlston said with the team playing six of the top 50 teams in preseason non-conference games, Ohio faces a difficult season. But he said he thinks the team will come out on top because of its talented players.
“We’re a pretty athletic team on the whole,” Carlston said. “I think we’re going to be a much better defensive team, we trained them a lot over the spring, brought in some defense players. That’s been a weakness in the past, but it won’t be a weakness anymore.”
The team will begin their preseason practices Monday with a three-day retreat to Lake Hope.
“We’ll do some conditioning, working out together as a team,” Carlston said. “That’s where we start talking seriously about what we want to be.”
In addition, Carlston said the new freshmen players should prove to be an asset to the team. He said the players seemed excited about the upcoming season.
“In the history of the school, we’ve never won the MAC championship,” Carlston said. “I think that’s exciting that we can come in here and the girls can really make history this year.”
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Katie Gill
