LEADING OFF 
No. 8 Loyola Chicago (15-2, 7-2 MIVA) hosts No. 17 Ohio State for a top 20 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) league matchup on Thursday, March 20 at 7 p.m.  

QUICK HITS 

• Loyola earned back-to-back MIVA Player of the Week honors after Nicodemus Meyer was named defensive this week (March 18) and Ryan McElligott tabbed offensive last week (March 12). The Ramblers have collected seven weekly conference awards so far this season.  
• Meyer notched the match-high nine blocks (seven block assists and two solos) at Purdue Fort Wayne on Friday, March 14 to help lift Loyola to its seventh conference victory. It also marked a season and career high for Meyer who added four kills on .800 hitting and one dig for 9.5 points against the Mastodons. 
• The Ramblers lead the MIVA in 10 categories: points (17.47/set), hitting percentage (.355), assists (12.25/set), kills (13.05/set), service aces (1.91/set), blocks (2.52/set) opponent hitting percentage (.212), opponent assists (10.22/set), opponent kills (10.72/set) and opponent service aces (0.92/set). 
• Nationally, Loyola ranks third in assists per set, fifth in kills per set, fifth in blocks per set, sixth in hitting percentage and sixth in aces per set. 
• Individually, Parker Van Buren is the MIVA leader in kills/set (4.29), aces/set (0.55) and points/set (5.21) while McElligott leads the league in assists/set (10.89) and Meyer is second in blocks/set (1.19). Nationally, Van Buren ranks fourth in kills/set, McElligott is fourth in assists/set and Meyer is fourth in blocks/set.  
• Head coach Shane Davis remains the winningest coach in program history with a 279-90 ledger and a .756 winning percentage.     

SCOUTING REPORT 
Ohio State (11-8, 6-3 MIVA) is currently on a five-match winning streak, including two sweeps over conference opponent Queens (March 13 and 15) and a five-set victory over Purdue Fort Wayne (March 1). The Buckeyes are strong at the service line, averaging 1.67/set to put them right behind the Ramblers in the league statistics. Stanislaw Chacinski and Shane Wetzel average 0.46/set, ranking them third and fourth, respectively, in the conference.  

Offensively, Wetzel has the team-high 241 kills (3.6/set) on .296 hitting and Daniel Henwood Rodriguez is the assist leader with 597 (9.48), ranking him fourth in the league. At the net, the Buckeyes are led by Cole Young with 49 total blocks (0.71/set) while Wetzel anchors the back row with 102 digs (1.52/set).  

SERIES HISTORY  
The Buckeyes hold the series advantage, 27-21, against the Ramblers. Most recently, Loyola bested Ohio State, 3-1, on the road (Feb. 8). In the second round of last season's MIVA tournament, the Buckeyes knocked out the Ramblers after four sets and went on to win the entire tournament. The last time Loyola fell to Ohio State inside Gentile Arena was in April 2022.  

FOLLOW THE ACTION 
Stream the match on ESPN+ and follow men's volleyball on Instagram and X @RamblersMVB for in-game updates.