The Ohio State men's volleyball team one win away from back-to-back NCAA titles
The top-seeded Buckeyes take on No. 3 seed BYU in the NCAA championship match on Saturday at 7 p.m. — a rematch of last season's title match, but this time on Ohio State's home court in St. John Arena.
The Buckeyes dominated their way into Saturday's title match with a record-breaking season. Ohio State earned NCAA Tournament's top-seed after achieving a 27-2 regular-season record and winning both the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association regular-season and tournament titles.
“It’s different — we get it. We know they’re going to want to settle the score and that sort of thing."– Pete Hanson
The team began the season on a 42-match winning streak which stretched back to the 2016 season. The streak was the longest in Ohio State history across any sport before it was snapped by No. 5 UC Irvine on March 11. It was one of the Buckeyes' two losses on the season with the other coming to Penn State on March 28.
The Buckeyes haven't just been winning this season, they've been dominating. Ohio State has a staggering 19 three-set sweeps on the season, including No. 4 seed Hawai'i on Thursday night, and have won 95 sets to its opponents' 18.
Unsurprisingly, the team accomplished all this with a stacked lineup. Returning nearly its entire roster from the 2016 national championship season, including the 2016 National Player of the Year in Nicholas Szerszen, Ohio State had a program-record five players earn All-American honors with Szerszen and Miles Johnson earning first-team nods, Christy Blough and Gabriel Domecus earning second-team nods and Driss Guessous an honorable mention.
The Buckeyes will take that loaded roster into Saturday's championship match and in a roll-reversal situation from last season, will be the favorite against No. 3 seed BYU.
In 2016, the Cougars were the tournament's top seed and were heavily favored against No. 2 seed Ohio State, but the Buckeyes made short work of BYU, sweeping them in three sets to earn the NCAA title.
Here's a slow-motion look at Ohio State's match-winning point.
— Kevin Harrish (@Kevinish) May 5, 2017
Nicholas Szerszen is a monster. pic.twitter.com/YDVGPVgdLb
With the Cougars now taking the underdog, spoiler role and the Buckeyes being the favorites on their home court, Ohio State coach Pete Hanson knows BYU will likely be playing with a chip on its shoulder Saturday night.
“We’re going to probably put together a highlight reel of videos from BYU and show these guys how awesome they are and that we don’t stand a chance if we don’t play well," Hanson joked after Thursday night's win over Hawai'i. "You know, make it so that we’ve gotta climb Mount Everest to win that thing.”
“In all seriousness, I think our guys know what’s in front of them," Hanson said. "We’ve been in that situation since January.”
As the defending champions and the preseason No. 1 team in the country, the Buckeye have had a target on their back since the start of the season, getting every team's best shot. On Saturday though, there's a little more on the line after Ohio State spoiled BYU's title hopes last season.
“It’s different — we get it," Hanson said. "We know they’re going to want to settle the score and that sort of thing. The nice thing about it is obviously we’re in our own building, we’re in a comfortable place, we’ve got some fans that are going to support us and hopefully get us through any tough patches.”
4,834 fans filled St. John Arena for Thursday night's NCAA semifinals, most of whom were wearing Scarlet and Gray. The Buckeyes are hoping for even more on Saturday night when they look to hoist their second NCAA championship trophy in as many years and celebrate with their home fans.
The match tips off at 7 p.m. in St. John Arena and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
