The Ohio State women’s volleyball just completed one of their most successful seasons in years. The Buckeyes finished 22-10 overall and 15-5 in tough Big 10 play.
They got a third seed in the NCAA tournament and made it all the way to the Elite Eight, finally falling to top-seeded and eventual champion Texas in four sets, 18-25, 25-21, 13-25, 21-25 in the NCAA Regional finals. It bookended an excellent season that both started and ended with losses to the Longhorns
It equaled the furthest the Buckeyes have advanced since 2004. Ohio State’s last Final Four appearance was all the way back in 1994. The program has made huge strides since Coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg took over before the 2020 season. After losing years in all of 2017-2019 Ohio State went 16-4 in 2020 and 27-6 in 2021, with 15-3 and 15-5 Big Ten finishes. Plus they made the NCAA’s all three seasons.
Three Buckeyes got All-American honors at the end of the season, including two second-teamers and an honorable mention. Unfortunately two of the All-Americans, seniors Mac Podraza and Kylie Murr are transferring to other schools for their final year of eligibility. It is a function of the numbers game associated with the extra year of eligibility for college athletes that played in the 2020 Covid season. Ohio State has gotten very good and they do not have enough scholarships available to keep everyone plus add their freshman recruits. An NCAA amnesty program that allowed programs like Ohio State to go over scholarship limits ended after the 2022 season, even though there are potentially two more classes of athletes that have an extra year of eligibility. All told five Buckeyes are transferring out despite having eligibility remaining.
Volleyball is a super fun and exciting sport to watch, but there is not much wagering associated with it at the college level. betting is now legal all across Ohio now residents aged 21 and over can enjoy sports betting in Ohio which had a successful launch at the start of the year, showing a great future when it comes to sports betting.
There are many ways to wager on professional volleyball, beach volleyball, and volleyball tournaments. Here are some of the options
Match Winner
As in any sport, bettors can wager on who will win the match. It resembles a money line, something like USA -145, Brazil +125 in a hypothetical Olympic matchup. A bettor would need to risk $145 to win $100 if the US wins. Conversely a $100 bet on Brazil to win nets $125.
Total Points
As it sounds, there are bets available on the total points in a match. A regular indoor volleyball match goes best of five sets with each set going to 25 points. One-sided matchups that do not figure to go more than three sets will see totals near 100, while a tight matchup might have a total in the 130 to 170 range.
There are also betting markets on the total of sets, plus potentially live markets on point totals in specific sets.
Spreads
These are also known as “handicap” bets. It is like a point spread except the spread refers to the number of sets won. Let’s say France is favored to beat England. Maybe there is a betting market on France -1.5, -120. If France wins 3-0 or 3-1, they “cover” the 1.5, If they win 3-2 or lose the match, they do not cover.
First Set Winner
As the name implies, it is a wager on the winner of the first set. The match favorite will likely be equally favored in the first set, possibly even more favored. Depending on the popularity of the match, there may be live markets on ensuing sets as well.
Correct Score
This generally refers to the set score. In the above example, the book would have odds on France winning 3-0, 3-1, and 3-2, and the same for England with relatively large plus odds on each as they are the underdog.
Tournaments
Volleyball tournaments feature not only all of the above wagers on individual matches, plus futures odds on tournament winners. There may also be odds on reaching certain phases of the tournament, much like in world soccer tournaments or March Madness in NCAA basketball.
Tournaments can come with prop bets as well, such as total points in a tournament, which team will score the most points, and which player scores the highest.
Live Betting
This will vary from book to book, especially since not every book offers volleyball wagering to begin with. When available, sportsbooks make live markets on any or all of the winners of the current set, the winner of the next point, and the race to certain point totals. The latter is a bet on which team gets to 5 points first, or 10 points, or so on. Further books might have live spread markets on the ongoing sets, that is the ultimate point differential at the end of the set.
