April 18, 2015
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
CHICAGO - The No. 5 Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball team ended the regular season on Friday night with a 28-26, 25-22, 25-17 sweep of No. 10 Ohio State. Thomas Jaeschke led the Ramblers, recording his sixth double-double of the season with 16 kills and 12 digs, while Peter Hutz and Nicholas Olson each tallied career-high service aces.
The first set began with the teams trading points until a 4-0 Ohio State run gave the Buckeyes a 9-7 lead, forcing a Loyola timeout. After a kill from Jaeschke out of the timeout, the Ramblers scored three of the next five points behind kills from Jaeschke and Ricky Gevis, followed by a Hutz service ace, to tie the set at 11-11. The teams battled back-and-forth, as Jaeschke racked up another four kills, along with one apiece from Gevis and Jeff Jendryk, before Ohio State took a 23-21 lead, forcing a Rambler timeout. The Buckeyes scored on a service ace out of the timeout, but then committed back-to-back errors, pulling Loyola to within one. The Ramblers then rallied to score three of the next four points, a Buckeye error followed by kills from Cody Caldwell and Gevis, to take a 26-25 lead and force an Ohio State timeout. The Buckeyes tied the game with a kill out of the timeout, but back-to-back points from Jaeschke, a kill and a service ace, ended the set at 28-26, giving the Ramblers a one-set lead.
After trading points to begin the second set, the Ramblers scored three unanswered, back-to-back kills from Nicholas Olson and Jaeschke, followed by a service ace from Hutz, to take a 9-5 lead and force a Buckeye timeout. Ohio State was able to pull within one point, but Loyola responded by scoring three unanswered, a pair of Buckeye errors and a Caldwell service ace, to increase the lead to 16-12. Loyola maintained the steady lead behind a Jaeschke kill and a pair of Ohio State errors before back-to-back Rambler attack errors pulled the Buckeyes to within two, forcing a Loyola timeout. The Ramblers scored the next two points, an Olson kill and a service ace from Jagger Kroener, before two Buckeye errors and a pair of Caldwell kills ended set two, 25-22.
The Ramblers raced out to a 5-0 lead to begin the first set behind kills from Olson and Gevis, followed by back-to-back service aces from Jaeschke, to force an Ohio State timeout. After a Buckeye kill, Loyola responded with a 4-0 run, including a kill and back-to-back service aces from Olson, to increase the lead to 9-1 and cause Ohio State to use its second and final timeout. The Ramblers continued their rally, scoring five straight points on kills from Caldwell and Gevis, along with another Olson service ace, to take a 14-1 lead. The Buckeyes were able to put together a pair of 3-0 runs, but the Ramblers responded by scoring five of the next six points, including three kills from Jaeschke and a block by Hutz and Olson, to increase the lead to 20-8. However, the Buckeyes then scored seven of the next nine points to cut Loyola's lead to 22-15, forcing a Rambler timeout. After trading points out of the timeout, back-to-back kills from Jaeschke ended set three, 25-17, giving Loyola the sweep.
With the win, the Ramblers end the regular season with an overall record of 22-2, including 14-2 in MIVA play. Postseason action begins Friday, April 24 inside Gentile Arena.