What Is A Buckeye?
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 14th-ranked Ohio State (16-10 overall, 4-4 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) men’s volleyball team dropped a 2-3 (24-30, 21-30, 30-28, 36-34, 12-15) decision to 11th-ranked Penn State Tuesday night in St. John Arena. The Buckeyes trailed 0-2 in the match but rallied to win games three and four before falling 15-12 in game five. OSU’s John Albertson (So./Fr., Manchester, Mo.) scored a team-high 14.5 points for the Buckeyes with Ben Spurlock (So./Fr., Stow, Ohio) adding 12. Albertson had a team-high 12 kills and five blocks while Spurlock had nine kills, a solo block and four assist blocks. Penn State’s Matt Proper had a match-high 30.5 points in the contest with Alex Gutor adding 25.5 Proper produced a match-high 29 kills and added three assist blocks. Gutor produced 20 kills, an ace serve, three solo blocks and three assist blocks.
In a close game one with Penn State leading, 23-21, kills from Nate Meerstein and Gutor made it 25-21 Nittany Lions. At 27-23, a Max Holt kill and one by Albertson made it 28-24. Proper, with consecutive kills ended the game at 30-24, Penn State. The Nittany Lions hit .308 for the game to .152 for the Buckeyes.
Tied at three in game two, Penn State took a 6-3 lead off two OSU errors and a Kevin Wentzel kill. Penn State built up a lead in the game, winning 30-21, with a Holt ace serve. Penn State hit .276 for the game to .036 for Ohio State.
Game three had 10 ties and six lead changes in the contest. The Buckeyes held the early lead but by no more than two points. With Ohio State leading, 18-17, three Buckeye errors gave Penn State a 20-18 lead. At 23-21, a Nittany Lion error and a Daniel Mathews (So., Shorewood, Wis.) kill tied the game at 23. At 24-all, a Penn State error and back-to-back kills by Spurlock gave OSU a 27-24. An OSU service error made it 27-25. A Proper kill cut the lead to one at 27-26. Service errors by both team moved the score to 28-27. A kill by Sam Stevens (Sr./Jr., Miami, Fla.) set the Ohio State game point at 29-27. A Buckeye error made it 29-28. Ohio State won the game, 30-28, off a Penn State service error, cutting the Nittany Lion match lead to 2-1. Penn State hit .357 for the game to .312 for Ohio State.
In a marathon game four that saw 31 ties and 10 lead changes, Penn State reached match point at 29-28 with a Gutor kill. A Spurlock-Robbie Klein (So./Fr., Cincinnati, Ohio) block made it 29-29. Proper set match point two with a kill at 30-29. OSU tied the game at 30 with a Spurlock kill. Penn State reached its third match point with a Meerstein kill at 31-30. Albertson’s kill tied the game at 31. Gutor set up Penn State’s fourth match point with a kill at 32-31. A Nittany Lion error tied the game at 32. Ohio State took a 33-32 lead with a Klein kill and had a first game point. Proper tied the game at 33 with a kill. A kill by Stevens gave OSU a 34-33 lead and serving game point two. A Gutor kill tied the game at 34. A Nittany Lion service error gave Ohio State a 35-34 lead and serving game point three. The Buckeyes won the game, 36-34 on a Mathews-Spurlock block to tie the match at two games each. Ohio State hit .467 in the game to .375 for Penn State.
Ohio State trailed game five, 8-6, but with a kill and ace serve from Mathews, tied the game at eight. A Buckeye error and a Gutor kill gave Penn State a 10-8 lead. At 12-10, PSU, kills from Proper and Wentzel set match point for Penn State at 14-10. A kill from Stevens stopped the first match point at 14-11. A Spurlock-Mathews block stopped a second match point at 14-12. A kill by Meerstein closed out the game at 15-12 for Penn State to win the match, 3-2. The Nittany Lions hit .462 for the game to .308 for Ohio State.
For the match, Penn State hit .342 to .250 for Ohio State. The Nittany Lions had an 80 to 65 advantage in kills and a five to three edge in ace serves. The Nittany Lions gave up 25 service errors to 17 for the Buckeyes. Defensively, Penn State had a 36-30 edge in digs with PSU’s Gutor recording a match-high 11. At the net, Penn State had a 15 to 13.5 advantage in team blocks. Gutor produced a match-high six total blocks with three solos and three assists. PSU setter Luke Murray had 62 assists with Dan O’Dell adding 10. OSU’s Mathews’ recorded 57 assists in the match.
Ohio State continues the home stand this week when they host conference opponents Ball State (18-5, 6-4) Friday and Quincy (12-14, 3-7) Saturday in St. John Arena. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.
🎦 ALUMNI: Thank you, Coach.
🎦 ALUMNI: Thank you, Coach.
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