April 4, 2014
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men’s volleyball team’s comeback fell short Friday night as the Buckeyes dropped a 3-2 (25-19, 25-22, 16-25, 24-26, 15-10) match to No. 14 IPFW in St. John Arena. The loss moved the Buckeyes to 10-14 overall and 6-7 in MIVA play.
Redshirt junior Andrew Lutz finished with a match-high 23 kills and had two service aces for the Buckeyes. Redshirt freshman Driss Guessous totaled 13 kills and five blocks, while junior Dustan Neary tied a career-high with seven blocks (1s, 6a) in the match. Libero Michael Piechowski led the team with 13 digs and freshman Gabriel Domecus chipped in 10. Setter Christy Blough 55 assists and five blocks (2s, 3a).
Andrew Sellan led the Mastodons (18-6, 7-5) with 22 kills and 14 digs. Eddie Rivera had 16 kills, while Ramon Burgos totaled 10. Libero Luis Bertran had a match-high 15 digs and setter Omar Rivera had 55 assists.
The Mastodons captured a 9-6 lead to start the first and the visitors used a 5-1 run for a 17-12 advantage. The teams exchanged points to close out the set as the Mastodons took a 1-0 lead with a 25-19 win.
Locked at nine a piece in the second, IPFW put together a 5-0 run for a 14-9 lead. The Buckeyes responded with a pair of two-point runs to cut the Mastodon lead to two at 15-13. A kill from Lutz and one from Michael Henchy tied the set at 17, but IPFW regrouped and held on for a 25-22 victory.
Ohio State came out of intermission with a new fire and jumped out to a 7-2 lead. Back-to-back kills from Lutz followed by a Neary/Domecus block set the score 12-5 and more kills from Lutz pushed the Buckeyes up 15-7. A pair of Ohio State runs led to a 21-12 lead and the team captured the set 25-16.
IPFW kicked off set four with a 6-2 lead, but the Buckeyes responded with a 7-2 run to tie the set at 11. The Mastodons took a 17-15 lead to force an Ohio State timeout before IPFW errors once again tied the set at 17. The teams exchanged points until a kill from Guessous gave the Buckeyes set point at 24-23. Lutz sealed the set with a kill, 26-24, and sent the match into a fifth and final frame.
The Mastodons regrouped for the last set and jumped ahead at 4-2 to cause a quick Buckeye timeout. Another slight run gave IPFW a three-point advantage a 6-3 and the team held on to its advantage to the end of the set, winning the match with a 15-13 victory.
The Buckeyes close out the weekend with a match at George Mason Sunday. The two teams face off at 4 p.m. ET.
