Roster preview
With its first team scrimmage under its belt, Ohio’s 2024 volleyball season is on the horizon. The Bobcats have big shoes to fill on the court in 2024 after losing some of their highest-scoring players. However, Ohio approaches its season with high hopes.
Despite a disappointing end to last year’s season, Ohio showed off its individual talents in players who have since left. The Bobcat’s leader in kills, Caitlin O’Farrell; leader in assists, Tria McLean and leader in digs and service aces, Sam Steele, have all since graduated.
The Bobcats will look to players like Kam Hunt, a sophomore outside hitter with a killer swing who currently has 263 career kills. Additionally, Anna Kharchynska, Ohio’s tallest player, will continue to guard the net as she currently leads the team in blocks at 94. Ohio also looks to Chariti McKeller, an experienced setter, to lead the team on the court and deliver in both offense and defense.
Ohio begins its season looking strong on offense and scrappy on out-of-system plays, which can be key to staying alive in matches and scoring points. Despite this, the Bobcats struggle when it comes to service errors, having a total of 239 lost points from last season on serving alone.
Ohio coach Geoff Carlston is stepping into his fourth consecutive season with Ohio volleyball for a total of nine years coaching the Bobcats. Carlston looks to return the team to its former glory, as his previous experience with the Bobcats resulted in a total of five straight conference wins between the years of 2003 and 2007.
Carlston is no stranger to building up a team of powerhouse players based on his previous experience. Choosing between a plethora of strong offensive players will be a difficult feat, however, the right decision could result in a heavy scoring season for the Bobcats. Carlston takes to the court this year looking to improve his current career record of 413-217.
Some new faces are making their way onto the court this season with a total of four freshmen filling in for graduated seniors. Ohio will welcome three outside hitters, Lexi Grisset, Sierra Evans and Darbi Ricketts to the team this year. Ricketts also looks to fill in as a defensive specialist, making her a versatile asset on the court this season.
Also making her way to The Convo for the first time is setter Bryn Janke. She enters the team sporting an impressive school record of career assists, digs and aces at her high school in Wesfield, Wisconsin.
Schedule preview
Following a disappointing ending to the 2023 season, in which Ohio fell in the first round of the MId-American Conference tournament to a below .500 Toledo team, Ohio has a runway to not only improve but excel in 2024.
Last year’s schedule was a gauntlet. Not just in the MAC; Ohio had to contend with a 31-3 Western Michigan team, as well as a Buffalo and Ball State team that tied Ohio’s second-place conference record, but in the nonconference schedule as well. Ohio faced off against a handful of high-major opponents, including 22-7 North Carolina State and No. 23 ranked Iowa State.
Ohio’s 2024 season begins at The Convo with the Bobcat Invitational, which Ohio will host for the third consecutive year. This time around, the invitational will feature Xavier, Appalachian State and Wright State.
The Bobcats’ season opener will be the third game of the invitational, where they will be pitted against the Musketeers at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The very next day, Ohio will finish the invitational with games against Appalachian State (1 p.m.) and Wright State (7 p.m.).
Ohio will follow up its opening invitational with the High Point Tournament Sep. 6, where it will face off with High Point and Mercer before heading west to Los Angeles for the SoCal Cup Sept. 12. Once there, Ohio will face off against Loyola Marymount and Utah State, as well as a battle-tested Southern California team that managed two ranked wins last season against No. 4 Washington State and No. 15 Arizona State.
Ohio will then finish out its invitational play hosting its second tournament of the season in Athens with the Ohio Invitational, beginning Sept. 20, with games against Liberty, Oakland and Eastern Kentucky.
From there, MAC play begins on Sept. 27. Ohio will open MAC play with a pair of two-game weekend series at home against Akron and Toledo, before facing off against Western Michigan in Kalamazoo. The Broncos swept the MAC last season, and will likely be the biggest challenge in MAC play for the Bobcats.
The following two weeks for the Bobcats will feature a road matchup against Northern Illinois, followed by home matchups against Ball State and Kent State with the 2024 edition of the Battle of the Bricks squeezed between the matches Oct. 19 in The Convo. The following weekend, Ohio will play a two-game series in Ypsilanti, Michigan against Eastern Michigan.
The last stretch of Ohio’s season will feature a two-game series against Central Michigan in Athens, a second matchup against Kent State on the road, a two-game series against Buffalo to close Ohio’s home schedule and finally two games to finish the schedule out in Bowling Green.
