With only one week remaining on its schedule before the Mid-American Conference Tournament, it has become clear that an Ohio team that began the year young and inexperienced has matured greatly since the inception of conference play.
Ohio is deadlocked in a first place tie in the MAC with Bowling Green, and also saw its 12-match winning streak, which was the program’s longest since 2007, end over the weekend.
However, despite great success in conference play and a chance for the Bobcats to win a share of its 10th MAC East title in as many years, the Bobcats have nine players on the roster listed as underclassman.
In the Bobcats’ most recent match — Saturday against Central Michigan — five of Ohio’s seven starters were underclassmen, which has been a trend for the entire season.
It’s easy to wonder how the Bobcats have been so dominant at times this season, with such a significant amount of young players leading the way on the court.
“I think these two classes are talented classes,” Ohio coach Ryan Theis said of his freshman and sophomores. “From the beginning it’s been a huge learning experience for them, but it’s been challenging and they learn more each match what it takes to be successful.”
A pair of deep recruiting classes over the past two seasons has bolstered the Bobcats’ statistics sheet this season, and four of the five Ohio players that have received player of the week honors in the MAC East are underclassmen.
Sophomore outside hitters Kelly Lamberti and Chelsea Bilger, alongside sophomore middle blocker Serena Warner and freshman libero Meredith Ashy, have each received MAC recognition for their play in recent weeks.
Lamberti has had the group’s most success this season, as she is second in kills and fourth in aces in the MAC. She also leads the Bobcats in kills, aces and points, while ranking second in digs.
Defensively, Warner has also fared well in comparison to the rest of the MAC, as she has recorded the conference’s highest average blocks per set, as well as the fifth-best hitting percentage.
The young Bobcats have achieved the majority of their success because of solid recruiting over the past two years.
“Recruiting is always a mixed bag of things that you need,” Theis said. “There are physical classes like the seniors right now, but you also get classes that are more point scoring and role playing and that’s what we have in those younger classes.”
Although the team may be dominated by underclassmen, the younger players remain humble and respect that others have been a part of the team longer than they have.
“I think, as underclassmen, we came into the program fired up and ready to win and the upperclassmen helped us with that,” Bliger said. “They accepted us and supported us as underclassmen on and off the court.”
But that being said, with such a high percentage of the players on the floor at any given time being underclassmen, the Bobcats are aware of the possibility for great things to come in the future.
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