The NCAA allows student athletes to transfer as graduate students, if they still have collegiate eligibility remaining in their sport.
Graduate student middle blocker Alexis Pinson has taken advantage of this opportunity, as she is a member of the Bobcats’ volleyball team this season.
In 2009, Pinson decided to walk on to Arizona State’s volleyball team. She was a freshman, but she felt like her past experience could help her make the team.
“I always had to fight for my spot throughout my playing career, even in high school and club,” Pinson said. “Walking on seemed like nothing different for me. (I had to) just go out there, bust my ass every single day and fight for a position to play.”
Pinson made the team as a walk-on during the 2009 season but earned a redshirt, as she didn’t see significant playing time.
She participated in her varsity season in 2010, before spending the next three years at Arizona State.
During her final season as a Sun Devil, she played in every set throughout the season and started all 34 matches. She also notched a team-high 132 blocks and 220 kills, while her 121 block assists are tied for fourth all-time in program history.
After finishing her senior year academically, she decided to head north to Athens for a top graduate program in the country and found out she could still play volleyball for the Green and White.
“I knew (Ohio) had the best sports administration program around, and that’s really what I wanted to do,” Pinson said. “It seemed like a no-brainer to me, why not take the opportunity?”
Pinson adds solid experience to the Bobcats, but because she is also one of the six new players on the squad, her transition has been different than the other newcomers but is working out very well.
“It’s a weird dynamic for sure — being asked to be a leader — but you still don’t know some of the stuff that’s going on,” Pinson said. “I still haven’t even played a home match here, and yet I’m a senior. It’s weird, but everyone here has been so great. I couldn’t ask for better people.”
Coach Ryan Theis finds that she is a great asset to the team, even when she isn’t performing on the court.
“She’s such a great spirit, whether she’s in or not,” Theis said. “She’s a very useful addition to our team. She’s very mature, talkative, vocal and upbeat; she’s great.”
During her first weekend with the Bobcats in the Oregon Classic, Pinson was involved in a victory against then-No.8 Oregon for the first time in her career.
She had lost six times against the Ducks in six tries with the Sun Devils. The single fact that she had yet to participate in a victory against Oregon motivated her new squad to win — if the Bobcats weren’t already.
“Oregon and Stanford were her only two schools she hadn’t beaten (when she was at ASU),” Theis said. “When we went on the floor (against Oregon) we said, ‘Hey, let’s get this one for Alexis, she’s 0-6 against these guys.’ Sure enough we did, so she was thrilled.”
Pinston and the Bobcats will compete in their home opener this weekend in the Ohio Invitational.
Ohio will face off against Cincinnati at noon on Friday, before taking on No. 24 North Carolina later in the day at 7 p.m. The Bobcats will then finish the weekend in The Convo against Dayton at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
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