Ohio State Set to Compete for National Championships in Many Spring Sports

Football season is officially over, but the Buckeye national championship push is just beginning.

Ohio State has eight teams currently ranked in the top 10, no less than nine athletes with a shot at a player of the year award or an individual national title, and 12 teams with legitimate hopes to make deep postseason runs or even win national championships.

Spring is going to be wild around the Ohio State athletic program, so buckle up.

No. 1 Men's Volleyball

Ohio State's won the past two NCAA men's volleyball national titles and though the Buckeyes need to replace quite a few key members from last year's team, Ohio State is still one of the favorites to win the championship again this year.

The Buckeyes enter the 2018 season ranked No. 1 in the country and are led by two-time national player of the year Nicolas Szerszen. Entering his final year at Ohio State, Szerszen is already one of the most accomplished and decorated players in program history.

The Buckeyes opened their season with a three-set sweep of North Greenville on Saturday, but face stiffer challenges this weekend against Stanford on Friday and No. 6 BYU on Saturday as they begin their title defense.

No. 2 Wrestling

The Buckeyes are very good at wrestling.

Six of Ohio State's 10 starting grapplers are ranked in the top-3 nationally, including three who are ranked No. 1 in their respective weight class. Of those three, one happens to be Kyle Snyder, who is literally the best in the world at what he does.

The Buckeyes are currently ranked No. 2 in the nation, behind only the defending champions, No. 1 Penn State. It wouldn't exactly be easy, but Ohio State definitely has the fire power required to topple the Nittany Lions for a national title this spring.

No. 2 Men's Tennis

Ohio State has been a men's tennis powerhouse for a number of years, but has never managed to take home the national title. This might be its best chance.

The Buckeyes begin the season ranked No. 2, behind only top-ranked Wake Forest. Five of Ohio State's six projected starters start the season ranked in the national top-125 and four are ranked in top 60.

Ohio State Athletics.

The team is led by returning senior Mikael Torpegaard, who's been arguably the nation's best player the past two seasons. Tropegaard held the No. 1 ranking several times in his Buckeye career and finished as a runner up in the 2016  ITA/USTA Indoor Singles Championship. He'll begin the season ranked No. 5 in the nation.

Ohio State is looking for its 13th-straight regular season conference title, 13th-straight appearance in the NCAA round of 16 and first-ever outdoor national title.

No. 3 Men's Gymnastics

The Ohio State men's gymnastics team is fresh off a runner-up season which matched its best performance since 2005. This year, the Buckeyes are looking for more.

Ohio State returns four of its five All-Americans from last season including one of the nation's best gymnasts in Sean Melton. Last season, Melton finished fourth in the all around and narrowly missed out on national titles in rings and high bar.

Alec Yoder also returns for the Buckeyes after an All-American performance on pommel horse. Both Melton and Yoder earned spots on the United States National Team roster this offseason.

No. 6 Men's Hockey

The Ohio State men's hockey team is off to a hot start as the Buckeyes are ranked in the top-10 midway through their season.

Ohio State currently sits at 14-4-4 with all four losses coming against teams currently ranked in the top 20 – two against No. 1 Notre Dame and one each against No. 13 Penn State and No. 18 Wisconsin.

The Buckeyes are well behind Notre Dame in the Big Ten standings, but have the firepower to make a deep postseason run.

No. 8 Women's Hockey

In just her second season at the helm, Nadine Muzerall has taken the Ohio State women's hockey team from borderline embarrassing to national powerhouse.

Just two seasons ago, the Buckeyes finished the season with a paltry 10-25-1 record. Thing didn't improve drastically in Muzerall's second season, as Ohio State posted a 14-18-5 record.

This season though, Ohio State has nearly matched its 2017 win total already, holding a 13-5-4 record midway through the season. Of those five losses, three have come at the hands of top-10 teams.

Ohio State Athletics.

The leader of the team has been goaltender Kassidy Sauve, who's been nothing short of magnificent this season, currently ranking No. 3 nationally in shutouts. The Buckeyes will look to ride her stinginess in front of the net to a deep postseason run.

No. 8 Men's Lacrosse

The Ohio State men's lacrosse team made history last season, reaching the NCAA Championship game for the first time ever. The Buckeyes will try to get back there this season.

Ohio State begins the season ranked No. 8 – its highest preseason ranking since the 2014 season – and returns three players that earned preseason All-American honors: Tre Leclaire, Ryan Terefenko and Ben Randall.

The Buckeyes will rely heavily on their stellar defense in 2018. The team returns its entire starting close unit and Inside Lacrosse rated the team's unit of Matt Borges, Erik Evans and Ben Randall as the nation's No. 2 overall unit.

The season certainly won't be a cakewalk though, as Ohio State is slated to take on eight teams in Inside Lacrosse's preseason top-15.

No. 10 Women's Basketball

With the Final Four taking place in Columbus this spring, there's no better time for the Buckeyes to return for the first time since 1993 – and they have the talent to do it.

Ohio State is led by one of the most prolific players in program, conference and national history. Kelsey Mitchell already owns the school's scoring record, is on pace to break the Big Ten scoring record with ease and could make a run at the national scoring record, as well. She already owns the Division I record for made three-point attempts as well as various other team and conference records.

But it's not just Mitchell. Linnae Harper and Stephanie Mavunga combine with Mitchell to form the nation's highest-scoring trio, and Ohio State has the highest-scoring starting lineup in the country.

The Buckeyes currently have a 15-2 record with both losses coming narrowly against current top-16 teams as Ohio State fell to No. 3 Louisville 95-90 in overtime and No. 16 Duke 69-60. The Buckeyes also have three wins against top-25 teams this season.

Synchronized Swimming

Last season, the Ohio State synchronized swimming team won its 30th national championship since its inception in 1977, meaning it wins national championships 75 percent of the time.

To put that in perspective, they win national titles with more regularity than the football team wins games, as the football Buckeyes have a game winning percentage of 72.4 percent.

The Ohio State synchro team is a powerhouse, and there's no signs it will slow down in 2018.

Fencing

The fencing team is another powerhouse program at Ohio State.

Last season, the team posted a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships for the second-straight year, with five Buckeyes making appearances in the medal rounds – the most of any team there.

Astoundingly, the runner-up finish game Ohio State it's 15th-straight top-five finish. Led by senior Maximilien Chastanet, who won a national title in men's foil his sophomore season, the Buckeyes will look to extend that streak and possibly take home a national title this year.

Women's Rowing

Rowing is yet another sport Ohio State routinely dominates. Not long ago, the Buckeyes became the first program ever to win three consecutive NCAA titles, taking home the hardware in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Since then, Ohio State hasn't won another national title, finishing No. 2 in 2016 and No. 5 last season. Still, the Buckeyes have finished in the top-five 11 of their 18 NCAA Championship appearances and will likely make a run at another national title this season.

Pistol

We have yet another powerhouse program.

After winning three-straight national titles in 2014, 2015 and 2016, the Ohio State pistol team managed just a fourth-place finish last season, although the Buckeyes did take home the women's aggregate national title and an individual title as Irina Andrianova won her fourth individual national championship, coming out on top in women’s sport pistol.

This year, the Buckeyes are looking to return to the top behind Andrianova's senior leadership.