A Dive into the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Record Book
9/25/2019 10:45:14 AM | Men's Volleyball
ADDITIONAL INFO
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men’s volleyball program has a distinguished history highlighted by three national championships in the last eight years. The Buckeyes have also put forth many of the top statistical totals in NCAA history. OhioStateBuckeyes.com delved into the recently-updated NCAA Men’s Volleyball Record Book and unearthed some impressive OSU tallies.
Ohio State has led the entire country in a statistical category five times while four individual Buckeyes have also paced the nation. Aggressive serving has long been a staple of the OSU mindset, evidenced by the Buckeyes posting an NCAA-best 225, 225 and 216 aces in 2016-18, respectively. In addition, Ohio State registered season winning percentages of .939 (31-2) and .941 (32-2) in back-to-back seasons (2016-17) for the top victory rate.
Four different student-athletes have finished a campaign atop a statistical leaderboard. Shawn Sangrey was the first to do so, terminating 5.03 kills per set in 2012. Brennan Anderson kept it coming the following year (’13) with a 3.12 digs per set clip to lead all D I-II players. Nicolas Szerszen’s .64 aces/set (2017) and Sanil Thomas’ 11.28 assists/set (2018) were also high marks in their respective seasons.
A long list of Buckeyes can be found in the top-5 for season and career stats. Let’s take a look:
NCAA CAREER LEADERS
Sideout scoring era = 1970-2000 | Rally scoring era = 2001-present
Hitting percentage in sideout scoring era
1st | Colin McMillan (1997-2000) – .481
2nd | Rene’ Esteves (1997-2000) – .474
Total service aces in rally scoring era
2nd | Nicolas Szerszen (2015-18) – 238
Hitting percentage in rally scoring era
3rd | Layne Dreven (2004-07) – .466
5th | Kevin Heine (2008-11) – .458
Sets played
3rd | Blake Leeson (2016-19) – 457
Total assists in sideout scoring era
3rd | Angel Aja (1997-2000) – 6,797
Assists per set in sideout scoring era
3rd | Angel Aja (1997-2000) – 18.52
Total assists in rally scoring era
4th | Daniel Mathews (2005-08) – 5,291
Assists per set in rally scoring era
t-4th | Mark Peckham (2001-04) – 13.16
Services aces per set in rally scoring era
5th | Nicolas Szerszen (2015-18) – .53
Matches played
t-5th | Blake Leeson (2016-19) – 126
t-5th | Nicolas Szerszen (2015-18) – 126
Ohio State ranks third in NCAA lore with 1,111 overall wins and a .711 winning percentage (1,111-451). The last five seasons have seen the Buckeyes among the elite as well, earning 120 wins (second-most) since 2015. That stretch includes a 42-match winning streak which not only ranks third in NCAA Men’s Volleyball history but is also the longest winning streak in Ohio State history for sports competing head-to-head.
