OCU volleyball secured the No. 1 spot in the 2020-21 Sooner Athletic Conference preseason volleyball poll.
The Stars garnered all possible first place votes from the league’s coaches, amounting to 100 total points. OCU was followed by Texas Wesleyan University with 87 points, John Brown University with 82 points and Southwestern Assemblies of God University with 75 points.
Catelyn Vargas, exercise/sports science junior and middle blocker, said she was happy to see the team rank higher than previous seasons.
“I think we were voted eighth last year, so being voted No. 1 is amazing,” Vargas said. “It’s a huge step for us as a team.”
Vargas said the team’s hard work over the last year helped improve their 2020-21 preseason ranking.
“We made sure we stayed focused and made sure everybody knew that we needed to be in the top spot,” Vargas said.
Kenady Bertling, political science junior and middle blocker, said many team members were not surprised by the poll’s results.
“Our conference is a bit on the weaker side, and with the way we played last year, we were excited to see how the poll would turn out,” Bertling said. “We won every single conference game and went undefeated until we got to nationals, and our team is really, really strong overall. So, it just makes sense to me that we would get the top spot.”
OCU (34-4) went undefeated for 33 consecutive games last season and ranked 16th in the 2019 NAIA Championships after a program record-breaking streak, passing its previous program mark for longest winning string of 24 victories in a row from Sept. 9 – Nov. 30, 2016.
Bertling said high-ranking poll results motivate the team to work even harder to improve their seasons, at both conference and national levels.
“We expect a lot out of ourselves and always push ourselves to be better and improve,” Bertling said. “We can definitely take small conference victories like this one and carry them over to nationals. Finishing 16th was still good, but we want to keep moving forward.”
Vargas said the team is very excited to have been voted No. 1 in the conference, but they will not let their focus slip because of it.
“When we saw the results and everything, of course we were super excited and pumped, but we still have pretty much the same team as last year,” Vargas said. “We told ourselves that we can’t let being voted No. 1 change our mentality. We still have to go out every day and work just as hard, or even harder, because so many teams will want to beat us even more.”
Bertling said SAC’s polls add more competitive energy to the conference.
“From a player’s perspective, the top four teams usually play head-to-head with each other throughout the season,” Bertling said. “Texas Wesleyan, for example, is going to want to beat us for the top spot in the postseason poll. It lets coaches know who they need to target and beat in order to rank higher.”
Vargas said she hopes other schools see how serious the team is about their sportsmanship.
“OCU has great athletics programs all around, and at least one program brings home a national championship every year,” Vargas said. “I hope people get to see us do that this year. We are talked so highly about because of how great the athleticism is at our university, and I hope other schools see us and say ‘wow, OCU doesn’t mess around.’”
Vargas said the team’s continued success is based not just on wins, but on character.
“We have such a great group of girls with so much talent, and everyone shows it on and off the court,” Vargas said. “If you’re looking at us as a team, and not just our stats and everything, you’ll see that we work so well together and have a lot of great leadership.”
Bertling said despite the uncertainty of the season’s future due to COVID-19, OCU Athletics is making sure teams stay physically and mentally prepared for the opportunity to play and compete.
“Things are changing every single day, and it’s hard to keep up with,” Bertling said. “It’s been hard to adjust because we haven’t been able to play, but we are still conditioning and staying fit, and we’re looking forward to hopefully playing in the spring.”
Vargas said the team will do everything they can do retain their No. 1 spot in the postseason poll.
“Every point, every game, every scrimmage, every practice – we have to, and will give the season everything we’ve got,” Vargas said.
Vargas said she is optimistic about the team’s future.
“I, personally, am super excited and super pumped to actually get to step on the court again,” Vargas said. “We want to bring home a national title and get that ring.”
For more information, visit the OCUSports website.
Leave a Reply