No. 10 USC Men's Volleyball Defeated by No. 13 Ohio State

Saturday, February 4

University Park, Pa.

1:00 PM

USC

6-4,0-0MPSF

Ohio State

7-3,0-0MIVA

Southern California

Ohio St.

Photo by: Jenny Chuang

No. 10 USC Men's Volleyball Defeated by No. 13 Ohio State

February 04, 2023 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

The Trojan offense was led by Simon Gallas who recorded his first-career double-double with 14 kills and 11 digs

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The 10th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (6-4) was defeated in four sets (25-19, 20-25, 25-20, 25-18) by No. 13-ranked Ohio State (7-3) in the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge at Rec Hall on Saturday, Feb. 4.

KEY PLAYERS

Sr. OPP Simon Gallas led the Trojan offense with 14 kills (4e, 37att, .270) and posted his first-career double-double with 11 digs to go with three blocks (one solo) and a service ace.
Fr. OH Dillon Klein had his streak of seven straight matches in double figures stopped but finished with seven kills (3e) on 25 swings and added seven digs with three blocks and a pair of service aces.
Fr. S Ryan Sprague posted 37 assists to go with two kills and a dig.
Jr. MB Kyle Paulson scored 9.5 points on six kills (1e, 9att) with .556 hitting and matched his career high with seven blocks.
Jr. OH Jackson Reed set new career highs with five kills (1e, 13att) and .308 hitting and added four blocks.
Sr. MB Lucas Frassrand posted seven kills and had three blocks.
For the Buckeyes, Jacob Pasteur led with 18 kills on .343 hitting to go with nine digs. Samuel Clark added 10 kills. Noah Platfoot dished out 43 assists with nine digs and had two blocks and four kills.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The score was tied 11 times in the first set with three lead changes. USC took a momentary 19-18 lead on an ace by Klein, but Ohio State came out of a timeout with a 7-0 run to close out a 25-19 victory. Klein had four of his kills without an error (8att) in the opening frame. Pasteur and Clark each had four kills apiece to help OSU outhit the Trojans, .455 to .156.
Gallas had five of his kills in the second set and helped the Trojans to a .353 hitting percentage. USC put up four blocks and held the Buckeye attack to a .250 output for a 25-20 win to even the match. Paulson had three of his kills and Klein and Reed added two kills apiece.
The Trojans had four more blocks in the third set and Gallas racked up five more kills, but the Buckeyes took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-20 response despite being outhit by USC, .280 to .273. Pasteur had seven kills and Shane Wetzel put up six kills of Ohio State's 16 total kills in the third.
Ohio State never trailed in the fourth and pulled away from the Trojans to claim the win with a 25-18 finish. Reed had two kills for the Trojans, but the Buckeyes had a big edge in hitting with a .370 to .136 advantage.

UP NEXT

USC will not play next week and then turns its attention to MPSF conference play when Grand Canyon visits Galen Center for matches on Feb. 15 and 17.

MATCH NOTES

USC fell to 19-7 all-time against Ohio State and has lost the last three meetings with the Buckeyes.
The Trojans go to 6-11 all-time in the state of Pennsylvania.
USC had a season-best 11.5 blocks and out-blocked its opponent for the seventh time this season (11.5 to 7).

For more information on the USC men's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/MVB. Fans of the Trojans can follow @USCmensvolley on Twitter and Instagram.