The top four seeds held home court Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the MIVA Tournament with all four matches decided in sweeps. No. 6 Ohio State will play host to No. 9 Lewis on Wednesday in the semifinals, while No. 7 Loyola will welcome No. 10 Ball State to Chicago.
#1 seed Ohio State def. #8 seed Quincy 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-12)
- Ohio State moves to 21-5; Quincy falls to 12-19
- Columbus, Ohio
- Box Score
- Quincy Recap / Ohio State Recap
- Ohio State advances to MIVA semifinals, will host Lewis on Wednesday
Key Stats: Ohio State dominated the stat sheet in a quick 74 minute sweep of Quincy. The Buckeyes outhit the Hawks .411 to .130 and outdid Quincy in kills (37-25), blocks (5.5 to 0) and aces (8-4) in the win. OSU hit .345 or better in all three sets, while holding Quincy under .100 the final two stanzas.
Stat Leaders: MIVA Player of the Year Nicolas Szerszen downed 14 kills and added nine digs and five aces, while hitting .462 in the win. Senior outside Maxime Hervoir followed with eight kills, while redshirt junior middle Blake Leeson and redshirt freshman opposite Jake Hanes added six putaways apiece. Szerszen, Hervoir and redshirt senior middle Nick Laffin notched two blocks each.
Senior outside Anthony Winter tallied 12 kills and five digs. Redshirt junior right side Brandon Davis added six kills and four digs. Junior setter Adam Rogan posted five digs and two of the team’s four aces.
It Was Over When: Ohio State scored six of the first eight points in Set 3 including two Szerszen putaways and an ace by Sanil Thomas. A 4-0 run with two more Szerszen kills made it 12-5 and forced a Quincy timeout. The lead swelled to 10 at 17-7 on an ace by Andrew Hillman and a kill and a block by Hanes. Up 19-9, the Buckeyes closed out the win with six of the final nine points. Three Hervoir kills and two Quincy miscues made it 24-9, but the Hawks scored three in a row to keep the match going. In the end, a hitting error by Winter wrapped up the night sending OSU to the semifinals.
#2 seed Loyola Chicago def. #7 seed Lindenwood 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-22)
- Loyola moves to 22-6; Lindenwood falls to 9-16
- Chicago, Illinois
- Box Score
- Lindenwood Recap / Loyola Recap
- Loyola advances to MIVA semifinals, will host Ball State on Wednesday
Key Stats: Offense was key in the Ramblers’ sweep of Lindenwood as the team boasted a .258 to .172 edge in efficiency and 40-33 lead in kills. Loyola also led 4-0 in aces to overcome an 11-9 deficit in blocks. The Ramblers hit .320 or better in the first two sets and managed three more kills (11-8) in Set 3, while hitting just .097. For its part, Lindenwood hit .200 or better the first two stanzas, but hit .000 in the final set.
Stat Leaders: Senior opposite Ricky Gevis and junior outside Collin Mahan notched double-digit kill tallies for Loyola, turning in 13 and 10 respectively. Gevis hit a team-high .435 clip and added three blocks, while Mahan added four digs and an ace. Senior middle Jeff Jendryk chipped in seven kills, two blocks and two aces, while junior middle Paul Narup racked up six blocks and four putaways.
Senior outside Nathan Van Dellen posted 12 kills for Lindenwood, while four other players managed four or more putaways. Junior middle Connor Hipelius (7), sophomore middle Sam Schindler (5), sophomore opposite Charley Hlavin (5) and sophomore outside Nick Stevenson (4) made up the group. Hipelius registered eight stuffs, while Schindler hit at a team-high .444 clip and put up three stuffs alongside Hlavin.
It Was Over When: After nine ties, the last at 12-all, Loyola broke away with a 7-2 run, including two kills each by Mahan and Gevis and an ace by Jendryk. Lindenwood countered with five of the next seven points to slice the margin to two at 21-19, with help from two Rambler miscues and a kill and a block by Schindler. The teams split the next six points before a block by Garrett Zolg and Narup wrapped up the night at 25-22.
#3 seed Ball State def. #6 seed McKendree 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-23)
- Ball State (18-11); McKendree (11-15)
- Muncie, Indiana
- Box Score
- McKendree Recap / Ball State Recap
- Ball State advances to MIVA semifinals at Loyola on Wednesday
Key Stats: Ball State hit .330 and outdid McKendree in every major statistical category in the sweep to move on to the semifinals. The Cardinals bested the Bearcats in kills (42-39), aces (9-3) and blocks (7-4), while holding McKendree to a .233 hitting effort. BSU hit .286 or better in all three sets, including a match-high .360 clip in Set 2.
Stat Leaders: Senior outside Mitch Weiler, sophomore outside Matt Szews and senior middle Matt Walsh notched 10 kills apiece to lead the Cardinals to victory. Walsh hit at a team-best .533 clip and put up a team-high five blocks, while Szews notched a team-leading seven digs and four aces. Sophomore setter Jake Romano and junior middle Parker Swartz added two aces apiece, while freshman outside Ben Chinnici tallied six kills and three blocks.
Senior outside Nolan Rueter downed a match-high 13 kills for McKendree, while hitting at a .455 clip. Senior opposite Jared Wilcox followed with eight kills and two blocks, while redshirt senior middle Brendan Schmidt turned in seven kills at a .700 clip (7-0-10). Redshirt freshman middle Wyatt Dimke tacked on three blocks.
It Was Over When: Set 3 featured 13 ties, the last at 23. After trailing 9-7, Ball State scored five of the next six, including two Szews kills and a Swartz ace, to surge ahead 12-10. McKendree tied it up at 12, 13, 14 and 15 before the Cardinals pulled away with a 3-0 run, including a pair of Bearcat miscues. Rueter downed two kills as McKendree scored six of the next eight, turning an 18-15 deficit into a 21-20 advantage. BSU closed out the victory with a 5-2 run, including kills by Weiler, Walsh and Swartz.
#4 seed Lewis def. #5 Fort Wayne 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-18)
- Lewis moves to 19-10; Fort Wayne falls to 18-11
- Romeoville, Illinois
- Box Score
- Fort Wayne Recap / Lewis Recap
- Lewis advances to the MIVA semifinals at Ohio State on Wednesday
Key Stats: The Flyers won the offensive battle in both kills (49-37) and efficiency (.362 to .237) to overcome deficits in aces and blocks. The Mastodons bested Lewis 5-1 in aces and 10-4 in stuffs in the loss. Fort Wayne outhit the Flyers .379 to .333 in the 25-22 Set 1 loss, but could not overcome nine putaways by redshirt junior opposite Mitch Perinar. The Mastodons trailed the rest of the way, including .500 to .194 in the final stanza. Fort Wayne finished the season at 18-11, marking the most improved win total nationally from 2017 to 2018.
Stat Leaders: Redshirt sophomore outside Ryan Coenen posted 17 kills and nine digs, while hitting .452 and Perinar added 15 kills on a .480 clip to paced Lewis. Redshirt junior outside Julian Moses and redshirt freshman middle TJ Murray followed with seven and six putaways respectively. Murray hit .556 (6-1-9) and put up a team-leading three blocks, while Perinar served up the team’s lone ace.
Sophomore outside Pelegrin Vargas notched a team-best 10 kills for the Mastodons, while redshirt junior outside Colton Stone and sophomore middle Richie Diedrich added six apiece. Diedrich hit at .500 clip (6-0-12) and tallied a team-best five blocks, while Stone added four stuffs and Vargas turned in three blocks and three aces.
It Was Over When: Lewis took a 10-4 lead to start Set 3 and never looked back, leading by at least four the rest of the way. Four Mastodon miscues and kills by four different players gave the Flyers the six-point edge. Two Alex Dickmann putaways had Fort Wayne within four at 12-8, but Lewis scored six of the next eight, including two kills each by Coenen and Murray to go up 18-10. Moses added two putdowns to boost the margin to 10 at 22-12. Fort Wayne scored three in a row, including two Vargas aces, and thwarted three Flyer match-point tries after trailing 24-15, but couldn’t finish a comeback. After kills by Perinar and Coenen made it 24-15, a service error, a hitting error and a Michael Keegan kill kept the Mastodons alive. Coenen then issued the final nail with his 17th kill.
Leave a Reply