“Getting our banner”: Upper Arlington volleyball is rebuilding, but eyeing a district title

Upper Arlington — There are four banners in the Upper Arlington volleyball program, all of them district championships.

It has been more than a generation since the Lady Bears added another one, with their last district title coming in 1990. That’s a drought longer than Canada’s Stanley Cup wait, which dates back to 1993, when the Montréal Canadiens last brought the Cup north of the border.

According to sophomore Roxy Rigo, the Lady Bears goal remains to achieve that generational success.

“We really want to win,” Rigo said. “We are a really competitive team, and we want to get a banner up on the wall. That’s our goal: Go far in the tournament, get our banner.”

The 2025 season brought success that Upper Arlington hadn’t seen since 2019: double-digit wins and an overall winning record. The Lady Bears’ 17 wins matched their most since 2018, nearly eclipsing the 19 victories they had combined over the previous three seasons.

Entering 2026, the Lady Bears face an uphill battle after losing nine varsity players from last year’s team. Even with a complicated puzzle to solve, the eyes are still on the possibility of generational success.

Among the returners, Roxy Rigo, Ava Montgomery and Gwen Radlinski bring the most experience. Ella Hanky also returns after an ACL injury forced her to miss all of 2025. Beyond those four, how the rest of the lineup shakes out remains to be seen.

Head coach Meghan Terwilliger sees 2026 as a rebuilding year, one that could help catapult the Lady Bears into the future.

“It is kind of a rebuilding year, so our whole mantra is effort over outcomes,” she said. “We are really leaning on our returning starters to lead the charge, and ingraining a culture of excellent effort will let us build on that in subsequent years.”

Upper Arlington touts a talented freshman class coming into the program, with the hope of getting them meaningful experience this year. The Lady Bears’ defense features several new faces, with Charlie Stafford, Bella Blue and Caroline Omiatek expected to contribute in the back row.

All of the shuffling will ultimately fall into place, and that cohesiveness could make or break the Lady Bears’ hopes of winning that elusive district championship in 2026.

Even in a rebuild, Terwilliger emphasizes that the district title remains the ultimate goal, even if the path there isn’t focused on outcomes.

“We aspired last year and will continue this year to get our first banner since 1990,” she said. “Our goals are to place in the top half of our conference and finding that district banner.”

Upper Arlington opens the season at home on 17 August against Olentangy Berlin.