With a new school year and fall sports seasons on the horizon, the Ohio volleyball team is busy preparing before practice begins in less than a month.
During the offseason, coaches, by rule, are not allowed to instruct athletes, but the Bobcats are still conditioning and improving their volleyball skills without guidance until August 7.
Head coach Ryan Theis is satisfied with the effort his team is putting in on their own thus far this the summer.
“We had most of the team stay here for the summer and everyone is putting forth great effort to improve,” Theis said. “I haven’t been around to watch much, but from what I have heard, the girls have been dedicated and putting in a lot of work.”
Five days a week, members of the team complete workouts with a strength and conditioning coach in the morning before playing some sort of volleyball, whether in sand or in The Convo. Theis said the routine will continue until he is allowed to take over instruction and begin actual practices.
Staying in Athens for the summer were 10 of the 15 members of the team, as well as three incoming recruits and a transfer student, who are enrolled in online classes until the semester begins.
Theis is still unsure what to expect from his team once matches begin August 24, but he is aware his team will be very young again.
“We will probably have two to three sophomores and two freshmen on the court at any time,” Theis said. “We will be relatively young for the second year in a row now, but that’s not always a bad thing.”
Returning for the Bobcats will be five sophomores, four juniors and two seniors, in addition to the four new members already in Athens.
Ohio will begin the season against four nationally ranked opponents in its first six matches, as it will face Pepperdine, Illinois, Kentucky and Oregon.
Though the young squad will be thrown into the fire early against the tough opposition, hopefully the early experience will show results when Mid-American Conference play begins.
cl027410@ohiou.edu
