Around the Oval: Women's Golf Wins the Lady Buckeye Invitational, Men's Volleyball Advances in MIVA Tournament and Three Men's Gymnasts Earn All-American Honors

By Chase Brown on April 17, 2023 at 1:05 pm
OSU Women's Golf
Ohio State Dept. of Athletics
2 Comments

Another week. Another Around the Oval.

While Ohio State football completed the spring portion of its offseason with an exhibition at the Shoe on Saturday, the Buckeyes' Olympic sports were busy winning tournaments, sweeping opponents and earning All-American honors.

In this week's edition of Around the Oval, Eleven Warriors' one-stop shop for coverage of the Buckeyes' non-revenue programs, we provide updates for women's golf, men's volleyball, men's gymnastics and several other Ohio State teams.

Let's dive in.

Women's Golf 

Ohio State women's golf won the Lady Buckeye Invitational for the 17th time in program history over the weekend, collecting a 54-hole team score of 854 (-10) across the three days of competition. The Buckeyes' score was nine strokes better than second-place Michigan State, who fired an 845 (-1) to finish runner-up in the tournament.

Ohio State competed against every Big Ten team except for Northwestern at the tournament. This field provided the Buckeyes an early look at what the Big Ten Championship will look like this weekend at Fox Chapel Country Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Caley McGinty paced the Buckeyes in the tournament with a 5-under 211, good for third place among individual golfers. Behind her, Kary Hollenbaugh tied for sixth and shot a 2-under 214, and Kailie Vongsaga tied for 14th with a 1-over 217.

On Monday, Ohio State head coach Lisa Strom announced the Lady Buckeye Invitational would officially be called the Therese Hession Buckeye Invitational in honor of former head coach and director of golf Therese Hession, who was a seven-time Big Ten Coach of the Year and two-time NCAA Coach of the Year in her career, leading Ohio State women's golf to 18 Big Ten Championship titles, 26 NCAA Regional appearances and 18 NCAA Championship appearances from 1991 to 2018.

“Coach Hession is so well-respected in college golf, and by naming the event in her honor, we are recognizing all she has given to the game, and especially to Ohio State golf,"  Strom said in an Ohio State athletics press release. “From coaches to players, Coach Hession has impacted the lives of so many people around her; her legacy will continue on for years to come. I have the deepest respect and gratitude for all she has provided me as a student-athlete, colleague, mentor and friend. This honor is so well-deserved.”

Hession was surprised to learn the news on Sunday following Ohio State's team win at the Lady Buckeye. Hession said she feels thankful and honored to become the namesake of the program's premier tournament and looks forward to her yearly returns to the Ohio State Golf Course to watch the competition.

“It is a great honor for me to have the Lady Buckeye Invitational in my name,” Hession said. “It has a rich history in Big Ten women’s golf, and I’m grateful to have been a part of it.”

Men's Volleyball

The No. 3-seeded Ohio State men's volleyball team defended its home court and advanced in the 2023 MIVA Tournament with a 3-0 sweep of No. 6-seeded Lindenwood at the Covelli Center on Saturday.

Shane Wetzel led the Buckeyes with 17 kills and Jacob Pasteur, who surpassed 1,000 career kills in Ohio State's win over Loyola Chicago on April 10, added 14 kills in the effort. Wetzel and Pasteur's performances came after they collected hardware from the conference's coaches. The former received MIVA Newcomer of the Year honors, and the latter earned MIVA Player of the Year recognition.

Men's Gymnastics

The No. 7 Ohio State men's gymnastics team had individual qualifiers compete at the NCAA Championships on Saturday. Three of them earned All-American status for their efforts, including Kameron Nelson, Donovan Hewitt and Caden Spencer.

Nelson's recognition came after impressive performances across three events, recording a score of 14.766 on floor, 14.800 on vault and 81.665 on all-around. With the All-American honors, Nelson became the first Buckeye since Sean Melton in 2017 to earn an All-American accolade three times in a single NCAA Championships.

Hewitt earned All-American honors with a third-place finish on rings (14.600), while Spencer finished fourth on high bar (14.066) to close out the distinguished awards for the Buckeyes, marking the first time in program history Ohio State has had three All-Americans in a single season at the national meet.

After the event, Ohio State head coach Rustam Sharipov said he was proud of his team's accomplishments at the NCAA Championships. Still, he knows there is more to accomplish in the future. The expectation he and his gymnasts have for the program is to contend for a national championship year in and year out.

"The team results don’t speak for who we are as a program. I know that we had some obstacles during the season, so we adjusted," Sharipov said in an Ohio State press release. "I’m really proud of our young team because not too many people know that our team is young and we had five freshmen compete. Of those five freshmen, three competed in the finals. There aren’t that many freshmen out there doing what they did.

"Overall, I’m really proud of all this young team's accomplishments. We’ll lose only one routine from this championship for next year so the team will be much more experienced and we’re really excited about that. I’m really proud of the team, and I cannot wait to see how that team can bring us to the next level.”

Other News and Notes

  • The No. 17 Ohio State men’s lacrosse team dropped a 17-8 decision to No. 7 Johns Hopkins on Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field in Baltimore, Maryland. The Buckeyes are now 5-7 overall with a 1-3 mark in Big Ten competition.
  • The Ohio State women's lacrosse team lost to No. 2 Northwestern, 17-11, on Saturday at the Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium. With the loss, the Buckeyes fell to 5-10 overall and are still winless in conference play with an 0-5 record against Big Ten opponents.
  • The Ohio State’s men’s tennis team made its 2023 Auer Tennis Complex debut with a 4-0 sweep of Penn State on Saturday. The Buckeyes improved to 24-2 overall after the win and control their own destiny toward yet another Big Ten regular-season title with a 7-0 mark in conference matches.
  • The Ohio State baseball team has hovered around .500 for almost all of 2023. That fact did not change after over the weekend, as the Buckeyes lost a three-game series to Maryland but captured a 13-8 victory in the series finale on Sunday. Ohio State is 18-17 after the first 35 games and holds a 3-9 record in Big Ten play.
  • The Ohio State softball team won a three-game series against Illinois over the weekend. The Buckeyes took Game 1, 11-0, the Illini took Game 2, 13-9, and Ohio State bounced back for a 9-1 win in Game 3. The Buckeyes have won six of seven games dating back to April 8 and improved its record to 27-14 overall with an 8-6 in Big Ten play. 
2 Comments

Prognosticating: Indiana

Dry Goods Contest

Ryan Day Gives Mic-Drop Response When Pat McAfee Tells Him Indiana is “The Real Deal”: “So Are We”

Ryan Day
View 2 Comments