Kevin Pratte
On the campus of Ohio State, four teams battled in the Big+ Volleyball Challenge. UCLA and USC made the trip out from the golden state. Penn State cruised over from Happy Valley to participate. On night one Penn State faced off against UCLA and the Ohio State hosted the Trojans.
Night One Jan. 31st
UCLA vs. Penn State
The number three-ranked UCLA Bruins returned to form after their loss last weekend to Ohio State in Austin, Texas. The Bruins swept number 17th ranked Penn State (28-26, 25-22, 25-15). As a team UCLA hit .449 and redshirt junior Cooper Robinson led the charge with 15 kills and hit .565. “We were in system a little bit more last night and that led to efficient offense. We put good pressure on them with our serve and allowed our defense to turn points,” said UCLA Head Coach John Hawks.
Coming off the bench and making a great contribution was opposite David Decker, who finished with eight kills on 12 swings with a .583 hitting percentage. Coach Hawks was excited after the match. When asked what bruins impressed him, “David Decker off the bench at opposite was key for us, as was Andrew Rowan running our offense. Andrew has an ability to give our hitters the best opportunities for clean swings”.
Penn State drops to 0-5 on the season with all their matches against ranked teams. This tough nonconference schedule will certainly prepare them for their EIVA conference play. The Nittany Lions hit .172 for the match and from the service line they generated five aces. Redshirt senior Will Kuhns was able to rack up 11 kills with a .217 hitting percentage.
USC at Ohio State
The AVCA sixth-ranked Trojans marched into the Covelli Center and beat Ohio State in four sets (25-18, 29-27, 21-25, 25-20). USC hit an impressive .500 for the match and junior, outside hitter Dillon Klein was the star of the show. Klien recorded 22 kills on 30 swings with one error for an incredible hitting percentage of .700. “Klein’s performance was clean and efficient. He’s doing a nice job of recognizing when he can take a swing and when he needs to put a ball in play. A lot of growth with his game, but more importantly, his team leadership and mentoring. Really impressive attacking and he is hungry to compete again,” said USC Head Coach Jeff Nygaard. Sophomore setter Caleb Blanchette from Brentwood, Tennessee dished out 49 assists and had four digs for the men of Troy. The freshman of USC brought great contribution in the win, outside hitter Sterling Foley had eight kills with a .500 hitting percentage and middle Parker Tomkinson recorded a career-high eight blocks. “This was a good win for SC. Everything we showcased was from all the focus, work and learning this team has done from August till now. We also have quite a lot more potential to actualize. What is fun for our coaching staff is that this group of Trojans are hungry for that,” said Nygaard.
The Ohio State Buckeyes were coming off with a huge victory against UCLA at the First Point Challenge in Austin, Texas last week. However, they could not slow down the Trojans stifling offense. As a team the Buckeyes hit .243 and recorded 15 service errors. Junior Shane Wetzel showed up big time with 20 kills and hitting .500 for the match. Also, freshman Stanislaw Chacinski added 10 kills and senior Kyle Teune finished the day with 11 kills.