Court switch pays off for Osborn

NORWALK — None of it made sense. Ana Osborn is the first to admit that. The Norwalk senior was like most girls who grow up interested in athletics in a volleyball-centric city. She had aspirations of helping a tradition-rich NHS program to more success when she reached high school. And on Wednesday, Osborn will walk the halls of NHS for a state send-off — as the fourth-ever Norwalk girl to reach the state tennis championships. "I love volleyball and still do," Osborn said. "It was a pretty easy transition from volleyball to tennis. A lot of things are similar, like the movements and coordination that come with it. "I knew some other sports I had tried that I for sure didn't want to do. Tennis was the one I had never tried before that kind of just intrigued me. It looked fun and I liked watching people play it." Now, Osborn (25-10) will play it on the biggest stage as one of 16 individuals at the Division II state singles championships. She will take the court at 9 a.m. Thursday against Genevieve Hayden of Pepper Pike Orange at the College of Wooster. "It is all still crazy to me, and I don't think I have fully grasped what that means," Osborn said of joining Aubrey Cook (2012) and the duo of Kaitlyn Stoll and Anessa Berry (2016) as the lone state qualifiers from Norwalk. Osborn was a volleyball-lifer growing up. But as she got older, something felt missing. After attending some of the first volleyball practices as a freshman in the fall of 2021, Osborn realized she wanted a change. "It kind of came to a point in my life where I was ready to move on to something else," she said. "Tennis was one of the other sports in the fall, and I knew people older than me who had played and enjoyed it, so I wanted to give it a try. "I had never played before. I just really liked it, and it stuck." That didn't mean Osborn just simply traded in her volleyball knee pads for a tennis racket and called it a day. "It was a very hard change because I loved volleyball so much and saw myself continuing on with it for a while," Osborn said. "So to kind of just stop something that I expected to go on for a long period of time was hard. "But the transition into tennis wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be. It was fun to learn something new, and I enjoyed it." Still, the daughter of Aaron and Anita Osborn is excited to know it worked out for both her, and her friends. While she prepares to play in a state tournament, the volleyball team is having another impressive year with a 19-3 record and a No. 1 district seed entering its tournament. "All of my friends kind of came from volleyball since that was the group I came up with," Osborn said. "I'm very happy for them and what everyone has accomplished so far." After seeing limited time as a freshman in 2021 with four matches, Osborn quickly settled into the No. 3 singles position for the Truckers in 2022. She was 24-9 that season, and was often the "insurance win" to seal a match behind standouts Megan Miller and Sidney Sage at first and second singles. That also continued last season, as Osborn again took the reins at third singles with a 27-9 record. "My freshman year was just a learning experience," Osborn said. "It was about improving and getting the basics down. "It was my sophomore year when I started to pick up a pretty good record and thought, 'oh, this is fun.' That's when I figured out this was something I could do pretty well." But after two years at third singles, Osborn openly embraced the challenges that came with jumping to the No. 1 position this season. She played two memorable — and critical — matches against Tiffin Columbian's Leah Weingart. At the individual league tournament on Sept. 21, Osborn lost the first set to Weingart, then trailed 5-2 in the second set with the possible deciding game tied at 30-30. But Osborn won the point, then forced a third set where she persevered with a 12-10 tiebreaker score. When the two met four days later back in Norwalk, the Truckers and Tornadoes were tied 2-2 with only Osborn and Weingart left on the courts. Norwalk needed the win to claim the SBC Lake title outright, while a victory by Weingart would have meant a co-title. Osborn won the first set, 7-6, by way of a 7-5 tiebreak point. She won the second set, 6-3, to clinch the victory for her team to finish a match that lasted almost 2.5 hours. The two had to finish under the lights as darkness fell. "It's a lot (of pressure), but I kind of just have it in my mind that if I push myself hard enough, I'm going to win," Osborn said. "There was a lot at stake, but it's all in fun. I put a lot of pressure on myself, but in a good way." Osborn's 78 wins to date are good for 13th all-time in program history. With her in the lineup over the past three seasons, Norwalk is 49-10 overall and 31-1 in league matches with three SBC Lake Division championships. Osborn is also appreciative of playing with the likes of Miller, Sage and other teammates over the years. "It's definitely kind of a luck of the draw and I have asked myself, 'why me?'" Osborn said. "There were so many better players before me who, if they got put in my position, they absolutely would have made it just as far. "I'm incredibly grateful I got to have this experience," she added. "I wish some of my teammates in my career could have done this, so I'm just very appreciative of everything this week." Osborn said she is looking forward to getting to Wooster and seeing the other players and how good they are. She is excited to watch other matches and to be able to say she's among that group. That will start in her own match against Hayden, who is already drawing interest from NCAA Division I schools such as Duke, Pepperdine and Vanderbilt. The Lions have produced players who have gone on to have success at the Div. I level in the Big East and Big South among others. However, Hayden is the only player in program history to win a district singles title as a freshman. Orange also advanced a doubles team to state this week. "It will be very cool to see the courts and facilities, and just the whole experience of having so many people be proud of me," Osborn said. "That side of it, it's just really cool when you get that recognition, especially from people you don't see all the time."