13th-Ranked Ohio State Defeats Carthage, 30-23, 30-23, 30-19
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The 13th-ranked Ohio State (9-5 overall, 5-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) men's volleyball team defeated fifth-ranked (Div. III) Carthage (10-5, 4-0 Midwest-III Volleyball Conference), 3-0 (30-23, 30-23, 30-19) Friday night in St. John Arena. OSU's Ted Schoenfeldt and Mike Berzins shared match-high honors with 10.5 points each. Schoenfeldt and Berzins each had seven kills, two ace serves and three assist blocks while playing in two games each. Tyler Frings recorded a team-high 10 points for Carthage with five kills, two ace serves and six assist blocks.
The squads opened game one with seven ties and seven lead changes. Carthage held an 8-7 lead before their error tied the game at eight. Two Red Men errors gave OSU a 10-8 lead. At 19-16, a Carthage error and a John Klanac kill opened a 21-16 Buckeye lead. At 25-20, a kill from Frings and an OSU error made it 25-22. A John Tholen kill and a Schoenfeldt ace serve gave the Buckeyes a 27-22 lead. An OSU error made it 27-23. OSU kills from Shawn Sangrey and Schoenfeldt gave Ohio State game point at 29-23. A Carthage error ended the game at 30-23 to give Ohio State a 1-0 lead in the match. The Buckeyes hit .280 for the game to .071 for Carthage.
With Ohio State trailing, 8-6 in game two, the Buckeyes scored the next five points to lead, 11-8. The run included a Klanac kill, two Berzins-Kevin Heine blocks, a Steven Kehoe ace serve and a Sangrey-Heine block. Carthage cut the margin to one at 12-11 with a Randy Hansen kill. A Klanac kill and an error by the Red Men gave OSU a 14-11 lead. At 18-16, a John Condon kill again cut the OSU lead to one at 18-17. The Buckeyes began a six-point run with a Sangrey kill, a Klanac-Heine block and a Heine kill as Carthage called a time out. The run continued with an ace serve from Berzins, a Sangrey kill and a Heine-Sangrey block gave Ohio State a 24-17 lead. Leading, 28-22, a Berzins kill gave Ohio State game point at 29-22. A Condon-Frings block stopped the game point at 29-23. The Buckeyes closed out the game at 30-23 with a kill from Berzins to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Ohio State hit .281 for the game to .161 for Carthage.
Ohio State opened game three with a Heine kill, an ace serve from Kehoe and a Carthage error for a 3-0 lead. Carthage made it 3-1 with a kill from Alex Mendez. Buckeye kills from Schoenfeldt and Berzins and a Red Men error gave Ohio State a 6-1 lead. Carthage would cut the lead to two at 7-5 off a Buckeye error. Ohio State would hold the lead at 24-18 before a five-point run gave the buckeyes a 29-18 lead and serving match point. The run included kills from Schoenfeldt and Mike Stefani and three Carthage errors. The Red Men stopped the match point at 29-19 with a Mendez-Frings block. A Stefani kill closed out the game at 30-19 to give Ohio State a 3-0 win in the match. The Buckeyes hit .458 in the game to .036 for Carthage.
Ohio State hit .333 for the match to .092 for Carthage. The Buckeyes had a 44-32 advantage in kills and a 42-29 margin in assists. OSU's Kehoe posted a match-high 40 assists with Condon recording 28 for Carthage. The Buckeyes recorded seven ace serves to three for the Red Men. Kehoe, Schoenfeldt and Berzins for the Buckeyes and Frings for Carthage shared match-high honors with two each. The Red Men gave up 15 service errors to 13 for the Buckeyes. Defensively, OSU had a 23-15 edge in digs. Hansen posted a match-high seven digs for Carthage while OSU's Klanac had a team-high six. At the net, Ohio State had a 10.5 to eight advantage in team blocks. Heine recorded a match-high eight assist blocks for the Buckeyes with Frings recording a team-high six for Carthage.
Next week Ohio State travels to Springfield, Mass. to compete in the Volleyball Hall of Fame/Morgan Classic. The Buckeyes play at 6 p.m. Friday against George Mason and will face either Springfield or UC Santa Barbara Saturday (6/8 p.m.)
