Jill DeArmond realizes that early-season national rankings mean little in the scheme of the entire season.
After a weekend in Minneapolis, where the Bobcats pulled off upsets over two top-ranked foes, Ohio reached its highest ranking in school history at No. 13, a position that DeArmond said is an honor, but really does not mean much at this point.
On the way home from Minnesota
we got the news that we were ranked 13th and our team was ecstatic about that DeArmond said. At the same time we have to stay grounded and not get too excited about being ranked high.
Coach Geoff Carlston echoed DeArmond's sentiments and said that his team understands the importance of not becoming complacent with the early-season success.
I'm not too worried about us getting ahead of ourselves because I think that we know as a group that we have to get better every day
Carlston said. If we don't do that
we are going to struggle.
Coming off their most successful weekend in program history, the Bobcats received a lot of buzz on the national level, including an article on ESPN.com about Ohio's success as an under-the-radar program over the last five years.
A lot of our alumni and former players have contacted me and it's been really neat
Carlston said. We're so focused on the next tournament that we don't really realize what kind of cool thing that it is.
Carlston added that the recent exposure could be a bonus in the heat of volleyball recruiting season.
It certainly helps with recruiting
so we're going to try to build on that
he said. We don't put a lot of stock in rankings
but we will use it for recruiting and getting a buzz out on our school and program.
This weekend the 'Cats travel to Notre Dame to face more challenging foes in Alabama, the College of Charleston and the Fighting Irish in the Shamrock Invitational.
All three were in the tournament last year and they are all Top-50 teams
Carlston said. There is so much parity in volleyball within the top 100
and we are going to have to be prepared.
Carlston said he plans to continue to mix up his lineups each game, a luxury he has with so many talented players.
We have a really good team
