No. 10 Ohio State Comes Back to Top No. 12 Pacific

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 10th-ranked Ohio State men’s volleyball team defeated 12th-ranked Pacific, 3-1 (19-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-21), Friday evening in the Ken and Dave Dunlap Invitational in St. John Arena.

Shawn Sangrey recorded a match-high 26 kills, 13 digs and two block assists for the Buckeyes. Mik Berzins added nine kills and 15 digs while Grayson Overman tallied nine kills. John Tholen led the team with five blocks and Peter Heinen recorded a team-high 52 assists.

Florian Gornik led Pacific with 16 kills and six blocks while Taylor Hughes chipped in with a team-high 32 digs, 12 kills and three blocks. Patrcik Tunnell led the Tigers with 45 assists.

Pacific jumped out to the early 6-1 lead behind a pair of kills and an ace by Christian Ahlin. The Tigers extended the advantage to 14-6 before Ohio State went on an 8-4 rally to cut the lead to 18-14 and force a Pacific timeout. However, the Tigers were used a pair of Buckeye attack errors to seal the first set 25-19.

Pacific took a 9-6 lead in the second before Ohio State used a four-point rally to take a 10-9 lead and force a Tiger timeout. Both teams then went back and forth until Ohio State closed the set with a 6-1 rally, using two of Sangrey’s eight second-set kills to even the match with a 25-20 win.

Both teams exchanged rallies to open the third set until Ohio State took an 18-14 lead after a pair of Tiger errors. After kills by Sangrey and Overman, the Buckeyes forced two more Pacific attack errors to win the third set 25-18.

Ohio State then used two Sangrey kills and a pair of blocks to take a 6-2 lead to open the fourth set. The Buckeyes extended the lead to 11-4 after two more Sangrey kills to force the Tigers to use a timeout. Pacific then responded with a 6-1 run of its own to cut the Ohio State advantage to 12-10. Pacific was then able to narrow the Buckeye lead to 22-21 before Sangrey tallied back-to-back kills and the Tigers followed with an attack error for a 25-21 Ohio State fourth-set victory.

The Buckeyes take on No. 4 Stanford at 7 p.m. Saturday in St. John Arena in the final game of the Ken and Dave Dunlap Invitational. Admission is free.