Jake Hanes Leads #7 Ohio State’s Potent Offense to Sweep of #13 SFU

MATCH STATS

• #7 Ohio State Def. #13 Saint Francis 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-21)
• #7 Ohio State 4-2; #13 Saint Francis 4-5
• Columbus, Ohio
• Box score

COLUMBUS, OHIO – The seventh-ranked Buckeyes earned a sweep over one of the top teams from the EIVA in #13 Saint Francis on Thursday night. The victory was fueled by a potent offense that hit .448 despite allowing SFU to hit .284 with similar block numbers and 12 less serve errors.

The opening set was tightly contested throughout as Nicolas Szerszen was held in check. The combination of Blake Leeson (6 kills, .556), Maxime Hervoir (9 kills, .500, 4 aces) and Jake Hanes (19 kills, .471, 5 digs) was too much though, as the trio notched 14 kills while hitting .375 in the opening 25-23 win.

The second was close for the entirety again, but this time Ohio State had a little more cushion. The defense wasn’t great and the serve errors were aplenty, but the Buckeyes offense kept rolling to a 25-21 second set.

In the third, Saint Francis put Ohio State in an early hole at 12-7 as Stephen Braswell paced the way with 12 kills (.370) and 7 digs. Back came Ohio State and Szerszen (11 kills, .435, 6 digs) continued to figure things out while Hanes continued to dominate. Eventually they catapulted in front and ended things on an Hervoir ace that was reviewed via video to wrap things up.

Saint Francis three-match road trip is now over as they head home for a lengthy stay. In fact, they’ll host their next eight matches, including one with Queens tomorrow.

For Ohio State, their week doesn’t get much easier as they play host to another EIVA opponent and Big Ten mate Penn State for a Sunday afternoon match.

Press Releases

Courtesy of Ohio State:

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Sanil Thomas disseminated 13.0 assists per set, guiding the Ohio State (4-2) offensive attack to a .448 team hitting efficiency in a 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-21) dismissing of Saint Francis (4-5). Redshirt freshman Jake Hanes was the top beneficiary of Thomas’ dishes, connecting for a team-high and personal career-best 19 kills.

Hanes was flanked offensively by Nicolas Szerszen (11 kills), Maxime Hervoir (nine kills) and Blake Leeson (six kills). Hervoir tacked on four service aces to his stat line, running up his points total to 13.5 (also recorded a block assist). Hanes was responsible for 20 points by night’s end.

It was all hands on deck defensively with 27 digs dispersed among eight different Buckeyes. Szerszen and Thomas led the way with a half dozen digs apiece.