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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
Dispatch
COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL
Versatile lineup positions OSU for successful postseason run
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Scott Priestle
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
</IMG> Marisa Main
</IMG> Danielle Meyer
Because of injuries and inconsistency, the Ohio State women?s volleyball team used 10 starting lineups in its first 23 games. Two of its best players, Danielle Meyer and Ami Stevens, have played multiple positions. Only setter Marisa Main has started every game at the same spot.
The lineup proved a tricky puzzle for two months, but coach Jim Stone appears to have found the proper fit. Since moving Stevens back to outside hitter at the start of November, with Meyer in the middle, freshman Anna Szerszen on the other side and senior Ashley Kiel on defense, the Buckeyes have swept eight straight matches, including a whitewashing of then-No. 3 Penn State.
It landed them the 11 th seed in the 64-team NCAA Tournament, which begins today. Ohio State will face unseeded Belmont at 5 p.m. Friday in a first-round game in Louisville, Ky.
"We always thought we were capable," Stone said. "All credit goes to the players. They finally embraced, ?OK, here is my role, here is what we need to do to be successful.? Maybe sometimes you have to hit bottom before the light bulb comes on."
At the end of October, Ohio State was 5-7 in the Big Ten and coming off 3-0 losses to Minnesota and Wisconsin. Frustration was building, and the Buckeyes were facing the possibility of failing to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for only the fourth time in 18 seasons.
Stone figured his team needed to win at least six of its final eight games to secure a spot. The Buckeyes not only won all eight, they won all eight 3-0.
"We?ve won in three even when we weren?t at our best. We?ve won on the road," Main said. "This streak shows how good we are. If we play our best, I don?t think there?s a team that can stop us."
Main has been a capable anchor, gaining All-Big Ten honors for the third straight season. Meyer also was named All-Big Ten. Szerszen was named to the allfreshman team.
Szerszen missed the start of the season while she played for her native France in international competition. So Meyer, who was a third-team All-American at middle blocker last season, began this season as an outside hitter, along with Stevens. When Szerszen arrived, the mix-and-matching resumed in earnest. The results were spotty.
"We had a lot of team meetings," Meyer said. "Our biggest focus wasn?t so much on skill as it was our attitude ? making the team more of a focus, and not how individuals are playing. Once we figured that out, we played Penn State and won and it was like, ?Hey, this team thing works.?
"That was definitely when the streak turned around. We realized we had a lot of potential to do damage. We can compete with the best teams." [email protected]
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
Dispatch
OSU VOLLEYBALL
France native adapts to new style
Friday, December 08, 2006
Dave Devereux
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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Coming from her native France, Ohio State freshman Anna Szerszen has had to deal with a change of culture.
Though the language hasn?t hindered her ? besides French, she speaks Polish, English and German ? Szerszen said the adjustment has been getting used to a different style of volleyball.
"In Europe, players are bigger and they swing harder and higher," the 6-foot-3 Szerszen said. "Here, there is so much more defense."
In time, Szerszen plans on polishing her defensive skills, but so far she has done well by supplying offense.
Szerszen is averaging a teambest 4.35 kills per game for the Buckeyes (25-7), who face Washington (27-4), the defending national champion, in an NCAA regional semifinal tonight in Seattle.
"We knew we had to have somebody that would provide some offense for us, and (Szerszen) has done that," coach Jim Stone said. "She knows she has to work on other parts of her game, but for a freshman to deal with all the new things, I think she?s done extremely well."
Szerszen joined the Buckeyes late this season, missing the first three weeks because of commitments to her French junior team.
Her debut for the Buckeyes came in the team?s ninth match of the season, when she had 12 kills. She has reached double figures in kills in 23 of 24 matches.
"Anna is doing a great job being so far away from home," junior Danielle Meyer said. "She?s very young ? she just turned 18. She brings a lot of energy to the team."
After a roller-coaster first two months of the season, OSU pulled things together at the right time.
The Buckeyes won their first 10 matches this season but then hit a rough stretch, losing seven of their first 12 in the Big Ten.
They closed the regular season winning eight in a row, all by sweep, including over thirdranked Penn State.
"We had question marks because we were trying people at some different positions," Stone said. "By all rights, we could?ve just packed it in. I?m pleased that the players took a bad situation in October and turned it around."
During the late-season tear, Szerszen continued to give the Buckeyes a lift.
She had 11 kills in the sweep of Belmont in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament and followed that up with 16 kills in a 3-1 win over Middle Tennessee.
Szerszen credits a lot of her training to her father, Jacek, who played professionally and was twice a member of national championship teams in Poland.
She decided to come to America because she thought it offered the best of both worlds ? being able to play volleyball and attend college at the same time.
"In France, there is not a good system with sport and studies," she said. "I would?ve had to choose between the two."
[email protected]
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