Around the Oval: Volleyball's Streak Continues, Wrestling Drops Matchup Against No. 8 Cornell, No. 3 Men's Tennis Upsets No. 2 Wake Forest at ITA Tournament

By TJ Neer on February 20, 2017 at 1:05 pm
Ohio State Men's Volleyball.
Ohio State Athletics.
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Another impressive week for Buckeye athletics this week, headlined by two wins for men's volleyball as they roll toward the NCAA history books.

Men's Volleyball

VolleyBucks racked up two wins against Quincy and Lindenwood over the weekend, continuing their win streak and cementing their place even more at the top of the NCAA rankings. With the two wins, the streak now sits at 38 consecutive victories, and excitement is building as the team moves closer and closer to the all-time record.

Junior Nicolas Szerszen continued to do it all for the Buckeyes, tallying a team-high 15 kills along with three aces and two blocks in the match.

Ice Hockey

No. 14 men's ice hockey also got a weekend sweep, but their victories came over Michigan State. On Friday, the Buckeyes took down the Spartans 3-2 behind goals from sophomores Dakota Joshua and John Wiitala and another from freshman Tanner Laczynski.

In game two, the Buckeyes scored four goals en route to a 4-3 victory over Michigan State. A Buckeye from each class scored, as senior Nick Schilkey, junior Matthew Weis, sophomore Brandon Kearney and freshman Matt Miller each got a goal on Saturday.

That goal marked Schilkey's 23rd of the year, and he leads the NCAA with .88 goals per game. With 23 goals this season, Schilkey has the highest goal count by a Buckeye since 2005.

The women's team finished their regular season splitting a series with North Dakota, winning the first game 4-2 and dropping the second 3-2 to the Fighting Hawks.

On Friday, sophomore Maddy Field scored two goals, and sophomore Lauren Boyle and freshman Samantha Bouley added a goal apiece. One of the bigger benchmarks of the season was also reached, as redshirt sophomore goalie Kassidy Suave tallied 32 saves, putting her over the 1,000-save mark for the season.

Sadly, the Buckeyes ended their season on a loss, but Field and Boyle each added another goal in the season finale. 

Wrestling

To begin the postseason, the No. 4 WrestleBucks traveled to Ithaca, New York, to take on No. 8 Cornell, and lost a tight match by a score of 19-18. The Buckeyes were without Kyle Snyder at heavyweight as he was returning from the Iran Freestyle World Cup. 

No. 1 133-pounder Nathan Tomasello continued to assert his dominance with a technical fall over Cornell's Mark Grey and No. 5 149-pounder Micah Jordan pinned Big Red's Jonathan Furnas.

No. 1 174-pounder Bo Jordan suffered a loss to No. 3 Brian Realbuto (Cornell). It was Bo Jordan's third match back from a foot injury.

The WrestleBucks will have next week off and will be preparing for the Big Ten tournament in Indiana beginning on March 4.

Tennis

Before the ITA National Indoors tournament, the No. 3 Buckeyes got a 4-0 win over Penn State on Feb. 15.

At the tournament, the Buckeyes continued their torrid stretch, opening with a sweep of No. 14 Oklahoma, before taking down No. 12 Oklahoma State in the same fashion.

On Sunday, one of the most highly anticipated matches of the season took place, as the Buckeyes took on No. 2 Wake Forest.

The team got a huge upset over the Demon Deacons on Sunday, keeping their perfect record intact. In a huge matchup, Ohio State's No. 2 Mikael Torpegaard took down top-ranked Petros Chrysochos (Wake Forest).

The No. 7 women's Buckeyes also went undefeated on the week, taking down Michigan 5-1 on Feb. 17 and Penn State on Feb. 19. The matchup with Penn State proved to be particularly impressive, as the Buckeyes won 7-0 as a team, and every individual Buckeye each won their singles matchup in straight sets as well.

Lacrosse

No. 20 men's lacrosse played in the Shoe Saturday against the University of Massachusetts, and took home the tight matchup with an 8-7 victory over the Minutemen.

Senior Johnny Pearson and junior Colin Chell scored two goals apiece in the matchup, and junior goalie Matthew Smidt tallied 11 saves in 45 minutes. 

The women's team got an impressive victory in the Shoe as well, picking up a 17-8 victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats on Sunday to stay undefeated on the season.

Four Buckeyes had a multi-goal game for women's lacrosse, including freshman Liza Hernandez pacing the team with four goals on five shots. The other Buckeyes were junior Molly Wood with three goals, and senior Morgan Fee and sophomore Erika Keselman with two goals apiece.

Softball/Baseball

The softball team went 2-2  at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge over the weekend, dropping both games of a doubleheader at North Carolina Friday before bouncing back with a win against Louisville Saturday and another against the Tar Heels Sunday.

In the Saturday matchup with Louisville, the Buckeyes were led by senior Lena Springer who allowed only three runs in a complete game, and two home runs by senior Alex Bayne -- a solo shot and a two-run dinger to give the Buckeyes the 4-2 lead in the seventh inning.

In the Sunday win, the Buckeyes scored 10 runs, including junior Taylor White's first home run of the season, a solo shot in the fourth. 

In baseball, the Buckeyes opened their season with two wins against Kansas State and Delaware on Friday and Saturday, but then dropped their second game of a doubleheader Saturday against Pittsburgh and dropped their Sunday matchup against Kansas State.

In the wins, the Buckeyes scored six and 15 runs, respectively, but only scored two in each of the losses. 

Gymnastics

For No. 3 men's gymnastics, redshirt junior Sean Melton stole the show at the Winter Cup in Las Vegas, placing third in parallel bars, fourth on the rings, fifth on the high bar and sixth on the floor.

There is potential for eleven competitors from the Winter Cup to be selected to the U.S. Senior National team, and Melton's performance on Sunday puts him in good position for a potential selection.

Sophomore Alec Yoder finished sixth on the pommel horse for the Buckeyes, as well as placing 16th on the parallel bars.

No. 19 women's gymnastics got a close win over the No. 24 West Virginia Mountaineers 196.075-195.800 on Saturday.

Junior Alexis Mattern collected yet another all-around title with a score of 39.375 on the day, including tying a career-high of 9.900 on vault, a career-high of 9.875 on the bars, and a 9.900 on the floor exercise.

The Buckeyes will take on No. 11 Denver next weekend in St. John Arena.

Other Events

Rifle notched a win at the NCAA Qualifier with a score of 4,684 on Saturday.

Ohio State men's golf came in fifth place out of 15 teams at the Puerto Rico Classic on Feb. 19.

Women's swimming came in fifth place of 13 teams at the Big Ten Championships. Junior Liz Li captured an individual title in the 100-meter freestyle.

 

Upcoming:


Feb. 20 - Men's Golf Puerto Rico Classic
Feb. 22, 23, 24 - Men's Swimming Big Ten Championships
Feb. 23, 25 - Baseball vs. Utah (Surprise, Ariz.)
Feb. 24 - Softball vs. Washington (Palm Springs, Calif.)
Feb. 24 - Baseball vs. Oregon State (Surprise, Ariz.)
Feb. 24 - Women's Lacrosse vs. Stanford
Feb. 24 - Women's Gymnastics vs. No. 11 Denver
Feb. 24, 25 - Track & Field Big Ten Championships
Feb. 25 - Softball vs. St. Johns
Feb. 25 - Pistol Final Countdown
Feb. 25 - Men's Lacrosse vs. Jacksonville
Feb. 25 - Women's Tennis vs. Miami
Feb. 25 - Softball vs. LIU Brooklyn
Feb. 25 - Women's Soccer vs. Louisville
Feb. 25 - Women's Soccer vs. Eastern Kentucky
Feb. 24, 26 - Men's Volleyball @ Grand Canyon
Feb. 24, 25 - Men's Ice Hockey vs. Michigan
Feb. 24, 25, 26 - Women's Ice Hockey @ North Dakota
Feb. 26 - Women's Lacrosse vs. California
Feb. 26 - Women's Tennis vs. Baylor
Feb. 26 - Baseball vs. Oregon State (Surprise, Ariz.)
Feb. 26 - Men's Tennis @ Florida
Feb. 26 - Softball @ California
Feb. 26 - Women's Swimming Last Chance (Columbus, Ohio)
Feb. 26 - Women's Golf Westbrook Spring Invitational (Peoria, Ariz.)
Feb. 26 - Fencing Midwest Championships (Columbus, Ohio)

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