Boxscore (PDF)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (April 21, 2018)
 
In Short
Top-seeded Ohio State (23-5) hit .307 and had three players post double-digit kills to upend No. 2 seed Loyola University Chicago (23-7), 25-20, 25-23, 25-19, tonight at St. John Arena in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tournament title match. With the win, the Buckeyes earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
 
How It Happened
Seventh-ranked Ohio State broke free early in a battle of the MIVA regular season co-champions, using a 4-1 run in set one to turn a 5-5 tie into a 9-6 lead. The Buckeyes' lead would grow to as many as five points on a handful of occasions in the opening set, but eighth-ranked Loyola mounted one final push late in the match after a Rambler service error stretched the OSU advantage to 20-15. A pair of Ohio State errors, sandwiched around a Dane Leclair service ace, trimmed the deficit to 20-18, but the Buckeyes reclaimed control by tallying three consecutive points to bump the lead back to five and they never looked back on their way to a 25-20 decision.
 
Loyola bounced back in set two and when it rattled off five unanswered points early on, it found itself in possession of a 10-5 lead. But, Ohio State picked itself up off of the mat and countered with an 11-4 run to claim a 16-14 lead, although the Ramblers would claw their way back on top, retaking the lead at 20-19 on a Buckeye hitting error. Consecutive points put the hosts back on top, but another OSU service error knotted the score for a final time at 21. Kills from Jake Hanes and Maxime Hervoir provided Ohio State with the lead for good and a few points later a kill from Collin Mahan brought the Ramblers within a tally, at 24-23, but Hervoir closed out the set with a kill for a 25-23 OSU victory.
 
Ohio State took control of the third set from the get-go, storming out to an 8-2 lead. Loyola punched back, stringing together a 6-2 run that closed the gap to 10-8, but that is as close as the Ramblers would get the remainder of the way.
 
A Look At The Numbers

• Mahan finished with a team-high nine kills and added five digs and four blocks, while hitting at a .421 (9-1-19) clip, to lead Loyola, which hit .244 as a team.
• Avery Aylsworth totaled a match-high 10 digs and Ricky Gevis added seven kills.
• Hanes led Ohio State with 13 kills and pitched in six digs.
• Mahan and Gevis were named to the MIVA All-Tournament Team along with Michael Simmons (Lewis), Matt Walsh (Ball State), Sanil Thomas (Ohio State), Hanes and Most Outstanding Player Nicolas Szerszen (Ohio State).

 
Up Next
Loyola will await its postseason fate when the NCAA pairings are announced tomorrow on NCAA.com.