No. 5 Ohio State Battles for 3-2 Win Over No. 17 UC San Diego

Saturday, January 13

Columbus, Ohio

7 p.m.

Ohio State

4-0,0-0MIVA

UC San Diego

2-3,0-0Big West

UC San Diego

Ohio St.

Photo by: Jay LaPrete

No. 5 Ohio State Battles for 3-2 Win Over No. 17 UC San Diego

1/13/2024 9:48:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 5 Ohio State (4-0) went the distance to knock off No. 17 UC San Diego Tritons (2-3) in a five-set victory Saturday at the Covelli Center.

The Buckeyes took the match by scores of 24-26, 25-20, 21-25, 25-11, 15-11.

Jacob Pasteur led Ohio State with 20 kills with both Shane Wetzel (19) and Cole Young (12) also in double figures.

Michael Wright, who reached 2,000 career assists in the match, finished with 58 on the night. Tommy Poole led both teams with 17 digs.

How it Happened

Set 1
An early 3-1 run put UC San Diego in the lead 4-2. A Jacob Pasteur ace started an Ohio State 5-1 run to put the Buckeyes up 7-5. The Tritons responded to regain the lead with a 3-0 run. A Daniel Hurley blast from the left and a Shane Wetzel kill from the right side put the Buckeyes back on top 9-8. Another pair of Wetzel kills gave the Buckeyes a 13-10 lead. UC San Diego again responded with a 4-0 run to take the lead at 14-13. Back-to-back Tritons errors and an OSU block put the Buckeyes up 16-14 before a Tritons timeout. UC San Diego tied it after the stoppage at 16-all. A Pasteur back row kill gave the Buckeyes a 20-18 advantage but the Tritons came to back to tie it again at 21-all. With Ohio State leading 23-22, UC San Diego called timeout and rallied to tie it at 24-all. Ohio State called timeout up 25-24. Upon return, a Triton service ace earned UC San Diego the first set, 26-24. Pasteur led the Buckeyes with six kills in the opener. Ohio State hit .185 while UC San Diego connected at a .200 clip.

Set 2
The Tritons jumped to a 5-1 lead with a 4-0 run that was stopped by a Pasteur kill to make it 5-2. A Ben Putnam kill cut the UCSD to 7-5. The Buckeyes rallied to take a 10-9 lead on a Putnam kill to cap a 5-0 run. Another Putnam kill before a Wetzel blast put the Buckeyes up 12-10. The Tritons called timeout after Putnam ace added to an 8-1 Ohio State run that made it 13-10. Wetzel made it 15-11 Ohio State, for the largest lead of the match for the Buckeyes. Pasteur kept the lead at four (17-13) with a cross-court kill from the right side. The teams traded points until a Pasteur kill gave the Buckeyes back-to-back points for a 23-18 lead. The Tritons called timeout, its final of the set, before Ohio State took the set, 25-20, after a Justin Howard kill and a Tritons service error. Pasteur and Wetzel each had nine kills after two sets. Ohio State hit .324 for the set.

S2 l Putnam with his 5th kill of the night ! pic.twitter.com/cYyTHFVYgj
— OSU Men's Volleyball (@OhioStateMVB) January 14, 2024

Set 3
The set went back-and-forth to open the third before a 3-1 lead put the Tritons on top 8-6. Ohio State tied it at 10 on a Wetzel ace and then took the lead on a Pasteur kill to cap a 3-0 run. UCSD used a 4-1 run to go up 14-12. Ohio State tied it at 14-all and then again at 15-all on three-consecutive Tritons errors. The Buckeyes called timeout after UCSD took a 17-16 lead. Ohio State then called its final timeout trailing 22-19. UC San Diego then finished off the set to win 25-22. Pasteur led the Buckeyes with 12 kills with Wetzel up to 11. UCSD hit .571 in the third while the Buckeyes managed a .200 hitting percentage.

S3 l Pasteur from the back row for kill 11! pic.twitter.com/vl81eR6SRT
— OSU Men's Volleyball (@OhioStateMVB) January 14, 2024

S3 l Michael Wright with the ace !?? pic.twitter.com/vjT2hYgUqw
— OSU Men's Volleyball (@OhioStateMVB) January 14, 2024

Set 4
A Cole Young ace helped the Buckeyes start with a 3-0 lead to open the fourth. Wetzel and Pasteur made it 6-1 Buckeyes with back-to-back kills. The Tritons called timeout but the Buckeyes built the lead to 8-2 on a Pasteur kill and Tritons error. A big Buckeye block put Ohio State up 11-4. Pasteur kept the lead at seven, 14-7, with a kill before a pair of Tritons errors made it 16-7 Buckeyes. UCSD then called its final timeout of the set but the Buckeyes continued to build the lead. Consecutive Wright aces put Ohio State up 20-8. Young set up set point with a kill to make it 24-10 before a Wetzel kill sent the match to a fifth set with a 25-11 win. Pasteur upped his kill total to 19 with Wetzel (15) and Young (11) also in double figures. Ohio State hit .333 while holding the Tritons to -.034.

Set 5
Howard and Wetzel gave the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead with kills to open the fifth. UCSD then tied it before a Howard kill made it 3-2 Buckeyes. Ohio State scored the next two points on kills by Putnam and Howard leading to a Tritons timeout trailing 5-2. Wetzel put Ohio State up 8-4 before the teams switched ends of the court in the middle of the race to 15 points. UCSD cut Ohio State's lead to 9-7 before an OSU timeout. Young put the Buckeyes in double-digits with a kill from the middle to make it 10-7. Pasteur made it 11-8 with a kill before a Howard strike led to UCSD's final timeout with the Buckeyes leading 12-9. An Ohio State block and Pasteur ace set up match point at 14-9. After a Buckeye service error and kill by the Tritons, the Buckeyes called their final timeout up 14-11. Wetzel then finished off the match with a kill for the 15-11 victory.

S5 l Pasteur with the Ace to make it Match Point ! pic.twitter.com/eFm9XT3tUZ
— OSU Men's Volleyball (@OhioStateMVB) January 14, 2024

S5 l Wetzel with the tool to win the Set 15-11! pic.twitter.com/7CFyoh1hwj
— OSU Men's Volleyball (@OhioStateMVB) January 14, 2024

Up Next
The Buckeyes travel to Austin, Texas, next weekend to face No. 1 UCLA and No. 12 USC in the First Point Federation Cup at the Austin Convention Center.

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