Ohio St. holds off USC in battle of NCAA men’s volleyball unbeatens

AUSTIN, Texas — Ohio State could not have had a better First Point Collegiate Challenge.

Friday in the Austin Convention Center, the fourth-ranked Buckeyes of the MIVA stunned reigning national-champion UCLA of the MPSF by pulling off a reverse sweep.

Then Saturday, Ohio State (6-0) made it a California sweep by holding off previously unbeaten and No. 13 USC (5-1) in what was almost a reverse sweep by the Trojans.

The Buckeyes took the first two sets before the Trojans of the MPSF rallied to force the deciding fifth, as Ohio State hung on for a 25-20, 25-21, 20-25, 18-25, 15-12 victory.

With many eyes perhaps focused on No. 1 UCLA, No. 7 Penn State and No. 8 Stanford entering this six-team elite early seeason men’s volleyball tournament, the Buckeyes might have felt a little overlooked.

Probably not so much now.

“It’s Ohio against the world, boy!” said sophomore opposite Shane Wetzel, who had a match-high 17 kills. Wetzel, named the player of the match, hit just .132 but had two aces, a block and five digs.

Ohio State pulled out the match despite being out-hit by the Trojans, .330-.228, and committing 22 service errors to USC’s 16. But they offset that with 15 service aces — the most by a USC opponent since, coincidentally, Ohio State in 2019 — including four each by senior Jacob Pasteur, who also had 13 kills, two blocks and five digs, and senior Michael Wright, who had 18 assists and two digs.

Senior Justin Howard had two aces to go with five kills, assist and two blocks. Sophomore outside Ben Putnam had 10 kills, hitting .381.  Junior middle Cole Young had eight kills and only one error on 14 swings to hit .500 and had an ace, four blocks and a dig.

“I think we still have to work on a lot of things,” Wetzel said as he and the rest of the garnet-and-gray crew hustled to get to the airport. “But I think overall we just found ourselves and remained calm, even during the (third and fourth) sets, even though we might have lost, we still came back and regrouped afterwards.”

USC ended its weekend 1-1 after a gritty, four-set win over Ball State on Friday. But coach Jeff Nygaard doesn’t consider the results to be a mixed bag.

“I liked the character of our team. I liked the fact that we got stronger the more we played,” he said. “I like knowing we can go to guys on the bench and they can step up and perform. … Wall-to-wall, I’m pleased with it, give me like 98% of what we did tonight.

“And that’s like, what, No. 4 that just beat No. 1? For us to push them like that and go there where we are as a team right now with the age range that we have and the experience level, that showcases a lot of grit and a lot of potential we can capitalize on.”

Among that “age range” of players is sophomore outside hitter Dillon Klein. The uber-athletic Klein plays well beyond his years, contributing 12 kills (.259) an ace and a solo stuff of Pasteur.

Freshman middle Wes Smith had 10 kills (.467), and freshman setter Caleb Blanchette had 39 assists, a kill, a block and two digs.

They mesh with veterans such as junior opposite Jack Deuchar, who led the Trojans with 14 kills (.357) and added six blocks and five digs, and senior middle Kyle Paulson, who had six kills on eight swings and was in on 10 blocks (one solo). He also had an ace.

“We haven’t won a (match) in three since the first two matches this year,”Deuchar said. “So we know we can keep fighting. Our whole mantra is to get better throughout the match. I think we’ve shown that that’s true. We were just a few points away tonight, and that’s a credit to them. They turned it around.”

Ohio State did turn it around. And the Buckeyes are confident this weekend in Austin will be a launching pad toward bigger things.

“No doubt in my mind that this will be the team this year, I think, we’ll have the deepest run out of my four years,” Pasteur said.

Ohio St. holds off USC in battle of NCAA men’s volleyball unbeatens Volleyballmag.com.