Ohio State’s going to have start yet another winning streak.
The top-ranked and defending NCAA-champion Buckeyes, who earlier this season saw their 42-match winning streak snapped, got upset again Tuesday night. This time it was at No. 13 Penn State, where the Nittany Lions of the EIVA stunned Ohio State of the MIVA in five 25-21, 14-25, 25-15, 22-25, 15-12.
There was another exciting MIVA match Tuesday, too, as No. 7 Lewis held off No. 10 Loyola with an identical fifth-set score 25-18, 21-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-12.
And the top-ranked NCAA beach team, USC, cruised to another victory.
First a look at NCAA men’s Division I-II and NCAA beach matches for Wednesday.
In the MPSF, No. 6 UCLA (15-7, 8-6 MPSF) plays at No. 11 USC (11-12, 5-9). UCLA stands fifth in the MPSF and every match matters for the Bruins, not only for league-tournament seeding but any slim hopes they have for a potential NCAA final-six at-large bid.
There is one match Wednesday in Conference Carolinas when sixth-place North Greenville (7-14, 6-7) goes to fourth-place Limestone (9-8, 9-4).
The MIVA is off until Friday when there are four league matches, including Ohio State playing host to McKendree and Grand Canyon going to Loyola.
The EIVA is also off until Friday and action includes the battle for first place when Penn State entertains Princeton and NJIT goes to Saint Francis.
In NCAA beach on Wednesday, there’s a good one in Malibu as No. 5 Hawai’i (15-2) goes to No. 2 Pepperdine (12-1). The Rainbow Wahine will then head south to Huntington Beach for the Big West Challenge this weekend when UH will take on four of its league foes — No. 6 Long Beach State, Cal Poly, Sacramento State, and CSUN.
Also Wednesday, Long Beach (12-3) goes to CSU Bakersfield (0-8).
Nittany Lions pull of the upset: It marked the first time Penn State beat a No. 1 team since 2006. It left Penn State 14-9 and dropped Ohio State to 23-2.
Chris Nugent, who led the winners with 19 kills, hit .515 and had eight digs and three blocks, put down the match winner in the fifth set. Penn State trailed 11-10 in the fifth before rallying.
“When you come into a match with the Buckeyes, you know it’s going to be a pretty physical match, ” Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said.”You know that they’re going to be taking great swings, and you know that they’re going to be teeing off from behind the service line.”
They certainly were, because Ohio State had seven aces — three from Maxime Hervoir — and 23 service errors, while Penn State has four aces and 20 errors.
Aiden Albrecht added 14 kills for Penn State but had six errors. He also had seven digs. Jalen Penrose had 10 kills but hit .094 as hit team hit .266. Penrose had an ace, six errors and seven digs.
Miles Johnson led Ohio State with 15 kills and hit .233. His team hit .214. Johnson also had four service errors, six digs and five blocks, one solo. Hervoir had 11 kills and five digs and two blocks. And Driss Guessous and Nicolas Szerszen had eight kills each and Szerszen had eight digs. Guessous had four blocks, two solo.
The defeat snaps a 20-match winning streak for Ohio State in true road matches. The Buckeyes hadn’t dropped a contest inside an opponent’s home gym since 2015.
Lewis escapes Loyola: It was the fifth time in the last six matches that Loyola and Lewis have played a five-set match in this rivalry between the Chicago-area MIVA schools.
Lewis is 20-6 overall, 11-3 in the MIVA, while Loyola fell to 14-9, 7-5 despite a monster match from Ben Plaisted, who had 25 kills.
Lewis freshman Ryan Coenen continued to lead the Flyers with 18 kills and hit .324. He also had two of his team’s seven aces, three of its 19 errors, eight digs and three blocks. Mitch Perinar had nine kills but hit .185 and had four errors and nine digs, while Trevor Weiskircher, John Hodul and Jacob Schmiegelt had eight kills each.
Plaisted hit .268 for Loyola and had four blocks and nine digs. Will Tischler had 16 kills, hit .462, and two of the Ramblers’ four aces and five of their 20 errors. He also had seven digs and three blocks. Collin Maher had nine kills, hit .304, an ace, five errors, two blocks and 10 digs.
Conference Carolinas: In the only league match, Belmont Abbey won at Pfeiffer in five. Barton won a non-conference match against visiting St. Andrews in four, but Erskine lost in four to visiting Coker.
USC routs Cal in beach: The Trojans won their 47th dual match in a row as they swept 5-0 and then played a triple-bracket pairs tournament. That included a 21-11, 21-6 win by Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes over Jessica Gaffney and Mia Merino and a 21-8, 21-4 victory over Grace Campbell and Olivia Rodberg. Hughes and Claes have won 94 in matches in a row.
USC is 17-0, while Cal is 8-4.
