Ohio State volleyball began its 2026 season on August 28 in a tournament named for a man who wasn’t there to see it. Jim Stone coached the Buckeyes from 1982 to 2007 and remains the program’s career wins leader with 531, three Big Ten championships, and 15 NCAA Tournament appearances. He died on March 10 after a battle with cancer. The inaugural Jim Stone Challenge at the Covelli Center was Ohio State’s way of marking that, with an alumni weekend built around it and a Jim Stone Celebration on the Saturday.
The volleyball did not cooperate on night one.
Bowling Green ended a streak that had never been broken
The Buckeyes lost their season opener to Bowling Green in four sets. The Falcons took the first two by identical 25 to 21 scores, Ohio State stole the third 26 to 24, and Bowling Green closed it out 25 to 22. It was the first win over Ohio State in Bowling Green’s program history, and the Falcons’ first win over a power conference opponent since 2023. Amanda Otten had 39 assists and 14 digs, Avery Hobson put down 15 kills, and Helen Wilford recorded 10 total blocks. Bowling Green went on to sweep the whole tournament.
Head coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg, now in her seventh season, put it plainly afterward: nerves, and a young roster.
Whatever it was, it passed quickly. Ohio State swept Fresno State the next afternoon by 25 to 21, 25 to 15, and 25 to 9, on the day of the Stone celebration. The Buckeyes then beat Northern Kentucky in four on Sunday, dropping the opener 25 to 22 before winning 25 to 20, 25 to 19, and 25 to 17.
Where the Buckeyes stand right now
Ohio State carries two wins and three losses into this weekend, having dropped both matches at the Big Ten/SEC Challenge in Norman, Oklahoma. Nobody in the league has played a conference match yet, but among the 18 Big Ten teams, that is currently the lowest winning percentage in the conference.
Ole Miss won in four on September 2. Hannah Jones, now a senior outside hitter, put down five kills in a stretch that drove a 25 to 17 second set, but the Buckeyes couldn’t hold a 22 to 20 lead in the fourth.
The Oklahoma match the following night was the harder one to lose. Ohio State dropped the first 25 to 21, took the second 25 to 23, lost the third 25 to 23, won the fourth 25 to 22 to force a decider, then lost the fifth 15 to 12.
There is one pattern worth watching in those five matches. The Buckeyes have lost the opening set in four of them. The only first set they won all season was against Fresno State, the team they swept. Whatever is happening in the first twenty minutes of a match, it has preceded all three losses.
The Sports Imports Classic starts Friday
Ohio State is back at the Covelli Center this weekend for the Sports Imports Classic. The Buckeyes play Winthrop on Friday, September 11 at 6 p.m., Southern Indiana on Saturday at 4 p.m., and Youngstown State on Sunday at 2 p.m. Friday is First Responder Appreciation, and the whole weekend is a youth weekend, with a block party before Sunday’s match and a meet and greet afterward.
If you have been meaning to see this team in person, this is the cheapest and easiest weekend on the calendar to do it. The Covelli Center seats 3,700, which means there is no bad seat and no seat far from the floor.
After that comes the last of the nonconference schedule, two matches at Virginia on September 18 and 19, and then the Big Ten starts.
The Big Ten schedule looks different this year
This is the part of the 2026 Ohio State volleyball schedule that changes how the season works. The Big Ten has moved to a format in which every team plays every other team exactly once, which cuts the conference schedule from 20 matches to 17. The full conference slate is here, week by week. The three matches that came off the calendar make room for the inaugural Big Ten Tournament, running November 20 through 25 at Fishers Event Center in Fishers, Indiana.
For a team coming off a difficult year, both changes matter. One trip through the league means fewer chances to avenge a loss and fewer nights against the conference’s best. The tournament takes the top 15 of the 18 teams, which turns the season into something measurable: finish out of the bottom three and Ohio State is still playing in late November. Seeds 10 through 15 open the single elimination bracket on that Friday, seeds five through nine get one bye, and the top four skip straight to the quarterfinals. Three wins in 20 conference matches last season would not have come close.
The stakes reach past the conference, too. FOX will carry the championship match at 8 p.m. Eastern on November 25, the first time a broadcast network has aired the final of a women’s college volleyball conference tournament. Big Ten Network has the opening round, quarterfinals, and semifinals. All session tickets are already sold out.
Nebraska comes early this time
Fans searching for Nebraska vs Ohio State volleyball should circle September 26. The Buckeyes are in Lincoln that Saturday at 9 p.m., in the second match of their conference season, one night after opening Big Ten play at Iowa.
That is a real change from 2025, when Ohio State closed the regular season at Nebraska on November 29 and lost in three, 25 to 16, 25 to 13, and 25 to 20, to a Huskers team that had not lost a match all season. Nebraska is not just the best team in the league on the floor; it is also the most heavily backed volleyball program in the country. Facing them in November, at the end of a long year, is a different assignment than facing them in September with the conference schedule barely started. Ohio State will find out early what the ceiling looks like this season rather than being told at the end.
The rest of the Big Ten slate runs through Rutgers at home October 1, Northwestern on the road two days later, home dates with Washington and Minnesota, a California trip to USC and UCLA in the middle of October, Indiana and Oregon at home the following weekend, then Penn State, Illinois, Purdue, Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Senior Night against Maryland on November 17.
The context nobody enjoys but everybody needs
Ohio State won six matches last season and lost 22. In Big Ten play it was three wins against 17 losses. Those six wins came against Miami (OH), Ohio, Troy, Maryland, Rutgers, and Michigan State, the last of them a senior day win in four that included a third set decided 28 to 26.
The longer arc is what makes it sting. Flynn Oldenburg’s first three seasons produced 16 wins and 4 losses, then 27 and 6, then 22 and 10, with a Sweet 16, another Sweet 16, and an Elite Eight. The three since have gone 10 and 18, 14 and 16, and 6 and 22. This is a program that was in the national conversation four years ago and is now trying to find its footing against Bowling Green.
That is also why 2026 is worth following closely rather than checking the standings in December. A rebuild is legible in a way a good season often isn’t. You can watch it happen.
What to actually watch for
Skip the generic advice. For this specific team, three things:
The first set. Four opening set losses in five matches is not noise. Watch whether Ohio State comes out of the locker room passing cleanly or spends the first ten points digging out of a hole.
Hannah Jones’s supporting cast. Jones is the established scorer. The question is whether freshman middle blocker Aneta Valentova, Naomy Govou, and the rest of a young front row can take enough swings that opponents can’t key on one hitter.
The setter. Mia Tuman is a senior now, and she recorded 11 double doubles last season. On a young team that keeps dropping first sets, how fast she settles the offense in the opening minutes is the most visible thing on the floor.
Fifth sets. Ohio State lost one 15 to 12 at Oklahoma after clawing back from two sets to one down. Last season they went to five sets eight times. Teams that are close to turning a corner usually start winning those before the record shows it.
Going to a match
Covelli Center is on campus, tickets are inexpensive compared to almost anything else in Buckeye athletics, and the building is built for volleyball rather than borrowed from another sport. Ohio State’s home slate is stacked with theme nights: Women and Girls in Sports Night against Washington on October 9, the Breast Cancer Awareness pink match against Minnesota on October 11, a Scarlet Out against Oregon on October 24, and a Dark Mode night against Wisconsin on November 13.
Columbus is also a genuine volleyball town, whatever the current record says. The city has hosted the NCAA men’s championship seven times, most recently at the Covelli Center in May 2025, and the women’s Division I championship twice, with another coming in 2027. Ohio State’s own men’s program has three national titles.
The women’s program is not there right now. That is the honest version. But a season that opened with a tribute to Jim Stone, a bad night against Bowling Green, and a loss in five sets in Norman is a season with something to prove, and those are usually the ones worth watching.
