Match Stats
- #1 Ohio State Buckeyes def. Ball State Cardinals 3-0 (29-27, 25-19, 25-22)
- Ohio State moves to 10-0 (1-0 MIVA); Ball State falls 8-2 (0-1 MIVA)
- Muncie, Indiana
- Attendance: 3,178
- Match Stats
The Ohio State Buckeyes not only made history on Thursday evening in Muncie, Indiana; they overcame it as well. With a 3-0 sweep of Ball State, Ohio State won their 33rd-straight NCAA match, which broke the previous school record of 32 set from 1969-1970.
Ball State has a long history of disrupting Buckeye history, and they showed a fight early on Thursday as well. Ball State was both the team that ended Ohio State’s last record streak in 1970, and is also the last team to have beaten Ohio State with a 3-1 result, in Columbus, on February 6th, 2016 – almost a year ago to the day.
In front of a massive home crowd of over 3,000, the team’s draw largest since 2009, Ball State led early in the first set, stretching that lead to as much as 17-12.
But then the Buckeyes’ Miles Johnson got hot, scored 3-straight Buckeye points, and let his team back into the mix. Johnson, the defending AVCA Player of the Week, had kills on 7 of Ohio State’s last 17 points in the set, as the road team would eventually pull away to win 29-27.
The Buckeyes got out to a much quicker start in the 2nd set, leading Ball State at 21-10 in spite of a much quieter frame from Johnson. Ball State went on a little run to tighten the scoring up in set 2, but 4 service aces from Ohio State led them to the lead.
Set 3 saw Ball State jump out to an early 7-4 lead thanks to 4-straight kills from Brendan Surane, but Ohio State fought back to what became a back-and-forth final set. 2 straight Ball State errors (one on a serve and one on an attack by Matt Szews) finished the day 25-22.
Ohio State hit a whopping .429 in the game, led by 19 kills from Johnson on a .621 average. Nicolas Szerszen had 13 kills and a .526 average. Neither Johnson nor Szerszen had any service aces in the game, so they remain tied for the school’s all-time lead in that category.
Ball State hit .314 on the day, with two players in double digit kills: Brendan Surane had 11 on just 19 swings (.474), while Matt Szews had 14 on 27 (.333). Of the 7 Cardinals who had attacks in the game, all but two had averages higher than .333, but those two were enough to end the team’s chances: Mitch Weiler hit -.053 on 19 attacks, and Edgardo Cartagena was 0-for-3 on his attempts.
The game was Ohio State’s first in conference play this year. While any team is capable of getting hot and ending the streak on any given day, OhioS tate does face a big threat next week with back-to-back home games against #8 Lewis University and #10 Loyola-Chicago.
Social
The Buckeyes are now one win away from going an entire calendar year without suffering an NCAA loss.#GoBucks
— OSU Men's Volleyball (@OhioState_MVB) February 3, 2017
?@OhioState_MVB ?33 in a row! NEW SCHOOL RECORD! #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/0YIHHYqeit
— Brutus Buckeye (@Brutus_Buckeye) February 3, 2017
Press Releases
Courtesy Ohio State Athletics:
MUNCIE, Ind. — In its 50th season as a varsity sport, the Ohio State University men’s volleyball team snapped a 47-year-old school record by defeating No. 12 Ball State (8-2, 0-1 MIVA) in the 2017 conference opener to represent the 33rd straight win overall for the top-ranked Buckeyes (10-0, 1-0 MIVA). Ohio State got past Ball State in straight sets: 29-27, 25-19, 25-22.
STREAK SNIPPETS
• Ohio State is riding a 33-match winning streak, breaking the school record previously set in 1969-7
• The Buckeyes last suffered an NCAA loss on February 6, 2016 (vs. Ball State)
• Ohio State has won 99 of 118 sets (84%) during the victorious stretch
• The streak includes six wins over Top-5 opponents and nearly half (16) against teams ranked inside the Top-12 nationally
• Also included in the run are 15 straight wins in true road games
• Loyola owns 40-match run in 2014-15 while UCLA is believed to own the all-time record of 47 straight
Ohio State overpowered the Cardinals by attacking .429 with 47 kills, complemented by nine kills from the Buckeye trio of Nicolas Szerszen (five aces), Blake Leeson (two aces) and Miles Johnson (two aces). Johnson and Szerszen combined for 32 of the 47 OSU kills, each attacking above the .500 line. Johnson bounced 19 kills at a .621 hitting rate and Szerszen attacked .526 on 13 kills. Maxime Hervoir tallied double-digit points as well, connecting for eight kills and four blocks (1s, 3a).
Set 1: Ball State built a five-point cushion at 15-10, 17-12 and 21-16 before OSU head coach Pete Hanson burned his second timeout of the first frame. The next four points went to Ohio State, igniting a 13-6 run fueled by Johnson’s domination to eventually corral a 29-27 triumph. The Buckeye opposite hitter registered a whopping 11 kills on 13 errorless swings as Ohio State quieted a large Cardinal contingent in attendance. The come-from-behind victory ended with three straight OSU points deflecting a Ball State set-point opportunity at 27-26 and closing the door two points later, 29-27.
Set 2: Ohio State victimized the Cardinals for four aces in the second stanza, going ahead early and often. Three Buckeye blocks also proved pivotal as Ball State stumbled to a .130 team attacking efficiency. Ohio State doubled up the Cardinals as late as 22-11 in a smooth-sailing set number two which wrapped up 25-19.
Set 3: The Buckeyes once again crawled out of a hole in the third, similar to the first set. Trailing 13-9, Ohio State snagged five of the next six rallies to pull even at 14-14 and force a BSU timeout. The ledger remained steady at 19-19 before a 6-3 Buckeye run sealed the deal and finalized Ohio State’s 33rd straight win.
Ohio State is back at it again Saturday night (Feb. 4), rolling over to Fort Wayne for a 7 p.m. match-up with the Mastodons.
Courtesy Ball State Athletics:
MUNCIE, Ind.– The No. 12 Ball State men’s volleyball team took on the nation’s number one team Thursday night in Muncie and fell short to the Buckeyes, 3-0.
“We had our defense try to slow them down, and they were just too good,” said head coach Joel Walton. “We did everything we could, and they still found holes in our blocks. The credit goes to Ohio State.”
The Cardinals tallied 42 kills and .314 hitting percentage in the contest. Freshman Matt Szews led the way with 14 kills while senior Brendan Surane added 11. Defensively, sophomore Adam Wessel led the way with seven digs.
The opening set was filled with dominate team play from both sides, a dynamic energy that fueled the 3,000 fans in attendance. The Ball State men’s volleyball team hasn’t had a crowd that large since the 2009 season. The Cardinals seemed to control most of the tempo in the back and forth set, leading the Buckeyes by five at one point. The defending national champions came back and won the set 29-27. Ball State had 17 kills and a .419 hitting percentage in set one. The Cardinals also added six digs and three blocks.
Ohio State came out even stronger in the second set, winning with a final score of 25-19. Szews led the way with four kills and one block. Junior Matt Walsh added three kills while Mitch Weiler and Alex Pia each added a block.
The closing set was another fight to the finish. After nine ties and five lead changes, the Buckeyes won the match with a 25-22 victory in set three. Surane knocked down seven kills for an impressive .545 hitting percentage. Szews and Walsh each added three kills.
“The lesson for our guys is you just can’t relax,” added Walton. “Just because we played close in game one doesn’t mean game two is going to be easy. We have to maintain the same kind of focus, the same kind of determination through the entire match.”
The Cardinals will be in action again Saturday, Feb. 4 as they look to get revenge on MIVA foe McKendree. First serve is set for 7:30 p.m.
For the most up-to-date news on the Ball State men’s volleyball team, please follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateMVB.
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