BYU vs Ohio State

Game Prep

After a hard fought 3-1 win over Long Beach State on Thursday night, the BYU men’s volleyball team used their practice session on Friday to focus on getting better in order to prepare take on a talented Ohio State team for the National Championship.

Gameday

Set 1

A pair of kills and an ace from Sander helped BYU (27-4) take a 6-5 lead against Ohio State (31-3) to start the first set. Durkin completed a dump kill to extend the lead at 10-8. The score remained tight, though, as the Buckeyes tied the set 15-all on an overpass kill. Sander, Durkin and Michael Hatch teamed up for a triple block that gave the Cougars a 20-18 edge, forcing Ohio State to take its final timeout of the set. The Buckeyes countered with a 3-1 run to tie things up at 21 apiece, but BYU collected its first set point on a Patch, Langlois and Jarman block. After multiple Cougar set points, Ohio State took the lengthy set 32-30.

Set 2

BYU took a 3-1 lead to start the second set from a Patch kill. The Cougars then capitalized on back-to-back blocks to take an 8-5 advantage. The score was tight from there as a Sander kill kept BYU ahead 12-10. A kill by Langlois helped the Cougars stay in front 17-15, but a 4-1 Buckeye run tied the set at 20-all. Ohio State took its first lead of the set since the 1-0 mark at 22-21, and then closed out another close set 25-23 on a BYU service error.

Set 3

The Buckeyes took a 3-1 advantage in the third set and stayed ahead 13-7, fueled by consecutive service aces, en route to a 6-1 run. A Langlois kill ended the Cougars‘ drought and BYU stayed within four, down 16-12, after another Sander kill. An Ohio State kill put it up 22-14 before another kill closed out the set and match 25-17.

“Hats off to Ohio State,“ BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. “They put together a remarkable season. They were absolutely the better team tonight. These are the moments when you have to dig deep and be as composed as you can. They put a lot of pressure on us that we just couldn‘t overcome in the end. I‘m proud of the guys for an outstanding season.”