What’s next for Ohio State volleyball after losing five starters

On Jan 19, 2023

Mac Podraza remembers when reality hit in 2022.

The Ohio State women’s volleyball setter was preparing for the Buckeyes’ final matchup with Michigan, the team her best friend Amber Beals plays for. After Podraza went to the Wolverines’ hotel to say hello to her before the match, Beals followed up with a message.

“She sent me a text like, ‘Hey, last one. It’s been so fun,’ ” Podraza said. “And I remember breaking down in my car crying like, ‘Wow, there’s so many lasts that are finally happening.’ ”

To Podraza, this reality wasn’t a surprise. She knew the 2022 season would be her last at Ohio State.

She already had conversations with Ohio State coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg, knowing roster changes would have to be made with four freshmen signing with the Buckeyes in the 2023 class. She knew a decision would not have to be made until the end of the season, but had an idea that her path would lead to the transfer portal.

Podraza was not alone.

After Ohio State’s Elite Eight loss to Texas in the NCAA Tournament, Podraza and four other starters — Jenaisya Moore, Gabby Gonzales, Adria Powell and Kylie Murr — entered the transfer portal, ending their careers with the Buckeyes to find a chance with another school for their final season of eligibility.

But as she leaves, Podraza has nothing but love for Ohio State. She has no animosity for the program, saying she would remain a “Buckeye for life” even when she plays for another program in 2023.

Dec 2, 2022; Columbus, Ohio, USA; The Ohio State Buckeyes celebrate a point during the NCAA women's volleyball tournament first round match against the Tennessee State Tigers at the Covelli Center. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus Dispatch

And as she leaves, Podraza wants to make one thing perfectly clear:

“There is nothing wrong with Ohio State,” Podraza said. “Ohio State volleyball is just going to keep growing and keep climbing.”

Scholarship numbers lead to dramatic roster changes for Ohio State

This reality was not one Oldenburg wanted to face, either.

The NCAA gave all athletes impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic an extra year of eligibility, allowing teams to temporarily exceed the normal scholarship limit of 12.

But with the 12-scholarship limit returning in 2023, Oldenburg did not have room for her five starters who had an extra year of eligibility remaining, leading to a trade-off: to either keep the seniors and ask an already committed 2023 class that had been recruited long before the Buckeyes’ Elite Eight season to walk-on, or to bring in those first-year players in the hopes that the seniors would be willing to return to Ohio State as walk-ons.

“It’s just disappointing that the NCAA went that route without looking at the full implications of what it means,” Oldenburg said. “And I don’t think that was intentional. … It’s not malicious. It’s just, ‘Everybody gets a fifth year. Hooray.’ Then what?

“It was the ‘then what’ that’s a lot to deal with.”

In the end, Oldenburg decided to stick with the four freshmen she had promised scholarships, and none of the five Ohio State starters chose to return without their transferring teammates.

It wasn’t a decision Oldenburg wanted to make, either.

“As I look at the roster and go, ‘I can’t pick one. I can’t pick two,’ ” she said. “ ‘I don’t want to. I want them all.’ ”

Ohio State volleyball did not make its scholarship information available to The Dispatch.

Oldenburg knew 2023 was going to be different, even in the midst of a run at a Big Ten title in 2022. As a planner, it was something she couldn’t help but think about.

But when she would think about the 2023 roster during the 2022 season, knowing what was coming, Oldenburg had to put into practice what her and the rest of her staff preached.

“When my mind would wander there, ‘Nope, nope, nope, stay in the now’ because that’s not fair to them,” Oldenburg said. “As much as I plan, and want to plan, I also need to be in the moment.”

Ohio State stays ‘in the moment’ through 2022 season

The final stretch of Ohio State’s 2022 season is what Oldenburg is most proud of.

With the weight of impending but unknown roster changes weighing on the Buckeyes, while also bringing a four-match losing streak into the NCAA Tournament, the Ohio State coach said the team reset itself, putting everything else aside.

“They poured themselves into each other for the team, for this program, and made their mark on history,” Oldenburg said.

Sweeping both Tennessee State and USC in the first two rounds, Ohio State beat No. 2 seed Minnesota in the Sweet 16 to earn the program’s fourth-ever appearance in the Elite Eight.

After Ohio State ended its season with a loss to Texas, capping off the most successful season since 2004, Podraza remembers an emotional locker room, one where each player had the chance to reflect on the run the Buckeyes had just made.