Around the Oval: Men's Volleyball Falls in Semis, Men's Lacrosse Defeated by Johns Hopkins, Baseball Bests Illinois

By Harry Wexner on May 7, 2018 at 1:00 pm
Men's Volleyball
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Buckeye excellence is not exclusive to the football field or the basketball court. Around the Oval is our way of keeping you informed of the amazing things happening with the other 34 varsity sports on campus.

Men's Volleyball Snaps Streak in NCAA Semifinal 

After defeating UC Irvine Tuesday, the men's volleyball team's postseason run came to an end on Friday versus Long Beach State. While the Buckeyes put up an admirable fight (25-22, 25-23, 25-27, 32-30), it was not enough to stop the tournament's top seeded team.

Long Beach State went on to win the tournament. 

Prior to the match, the volleyball squad had won a historic 16 postseason matches, including seven NCAA tournament contests, in a row. The team concluded with a 25-6 record this season, adding to an impressive 111-19 tally since standout Nicolas Szerszen joined the roster. 

Szensen and fellow All-America  Maxime Hervoir were yet again phenomenal in Friday's semifinal match. The duo combined for 33 kills in their final contest wearing scarlet and gray. 

After the game, coach Pete Hanson said: "We had walked out the door last year and had to put some new faces and new young men on the floor. I'm very proud of what they've accomplished, how they handled themselves, how they competed in this tournament, and I think the future is very bright for Ohio State Volleyball. I'm really proud of those young men."

While the defeat was undoubtedly unwelcome, there was a silver lining for the Buckeyes as Matt Dorn, Nick Laffin, Blake Leeson, Aaron Samarin and Nicolas Szerszen all returned to Columbus in time to graduate Sunday. The seniors are two-time National Champions. 

Men's Lacrosse Falls to Johns Hopkins in 6-5 Heartbreaker

Ohio State's Big Ten Tournament run came to an end Thursday when the Buckeyes found themselves on the wrong side of eleventh hour heroics.

Statistically, Ohio State outplayed Johns Hopkins, besting the Blue Jays in shots (37-17) and face-offs (11-3). In spite of those advantages, the Buckeyes failed to gain a upper-hand on the score board. 

With less than a minute on the clock and the score tied at five, the Buckeyes forced a shot clock violation. When they failed to clear the ball, however, Hopkins scooped it up and called a timeout. When time resume, the Blue Jays quickly scored. Ohio State won the following face-off, but unlike Toronto's defense, JHU's Brock Turnbaugh stopped the Buckeye's last-second counter-attack. 

After the game, coach Nick Myers said: “We’ve played as tough of a schedule as anybody in the toughest conference there is. We’ve been playing really good lacrosse lately and have some quality wins. All you do can is hope to see our name come up on Sunday and have a chance to compete for a championship.”

Ohio State was not included in this year's NCAA tournament. As with men's volleyball, lacrosse seniors returned to Columbus for a bitter-sweet graduation ceremony Sunday.

On Friday, the baseball team started their weekend series at Illinois with a 6-5 win. The team began the game with explosive offense, stretching to to a 6-1 lead. For the last six innings of play, however, it was all defense. Through Illinois battled back, the five-run lead Ohio State built early proved to be insurmountable. After the game, coach Greg Beals chimed: "It's always big to win Friday night."

On Saturday, Illinois came thundering back with a 11-3 home win. Again, the Buckeyes scored early and often. The team's three runs at the top of the second inning hinted at an series-clinching victory. This time, however, the early bird did not get the worm. Illinois dominated the last seven innings of play, setting up a rubber match on Sunday. 

In the series finale, Ohio State returned to top form. Yet again, the Buckeyes scored five times in the second inning. This time, however, the team members both kept their feet on the gas offensively and played lock-down defense. The squad secured the series with a 10-5 win. 

The baseball team concludes its season this week with five home games. While the baseball seniors — Yianni Pavlopoulos, Austin Woodby, Ridge Winand, Seth Kinker, Curtiss Irving, Kyle Michalik and Adam Niemeyer — were not home for graduated, they celebrated the end of their academic careers with a major athletic victory. 

After the weekend, the baseball team is 30-15 overall and 11-7 in conference play. 

Other News and Scores

  • After losing two games at Michigan, softball run-ruled the Wolverines 10-1 on Sunday to win the final game of the series. 
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