No. 13 USC Men's Volleyball Edged in Five-Set Thriller by No. 4 Ohio State

Saturday, January 20

Austin, Texas

11:30 AM

USC

5-1,0-0MPSF

Ohio State

6-0,0-0MIVA

Southern California

Ohio St.

Photo by: Harrison Cho

No. 13 USC Men's Volleyball Edged in Five-Set Thriller by No. 4 Ohio State

January 20, 2024 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

The Trojans went the distance in a narrow loss to the Buckeyes

AUSTIN, Texas – The 13th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (5-1) fell to fourth-ranked Ohio State (6-0) in five sets (25-20, 25-21, 20-25, 18-25, 15-12) in the First Point Collegiate Challenge at Austin Convention Center on Saturday, Jan. 20.

KEY PLAYERS

Sr. MB Kyle Paulson topped his career high—set yesterday—with 10 blocks (one solo) and finished with 13.5 points on six kills (1e, 8att, .625), two service aces. His 10-block total was the highest by a Trojan since Sam Lewis had 11 in a match against Penn State (Jan. 20, 2018).
Redshirt Jr. OPP Jack Deuchar shared team-high honors with 17.0 points earned on a team-high 14 kills (4e, 28att) with .357 hitting. Deuchar also had six blocks and five digs.
So. OH Dillon Klein reached double-digit kills in a match for the 24th time in his career and had 17.0 points to finish the day with 12 kills (5e, 27att) on .259 hitting; and tied his career high with seven blocks (one solo) and four digs.
Fr. MB Wes Smith racked up 10 kills (3e, 15att, .467) with four blocks and five digs.
Fr. S Caleb Blanchette put up 39 assists—with two digs and a block—to set the Trojans to a .330 hitting rate, the team's sixth straight match hitting over .300.
Jr. LIB Austin Stuard led the team with seven digs and had three assists.
For the Buckeyes, Shane Wetzel led with 17 kills and led all players with 19.5 points. Jacob Pasteur had 13 kills and four aces. Ben Putnam scored 10 kills with three digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Trojans out-hit the Buckeyes, .330 to .228, and had more digs (29-23) and blocks (15.5 to 6.5) than Ohio State. It was the fourth match in double-digit blocks for USC. The Buckeyes won the service game with a 15-4 edge in aces; the most by a Trojan opponent since Ohio State had 14 in 2019.
Ohio State collected six of their aces in the first set and capitalized on Trojan errors to get a 25-20 win. Wetzel had five of his kills in the opening frame while Klein and Deuchar had three apiece. USC led at three different points in the set, but fell back, 15-14, at the media timeout and couldn't keep pace with the Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes hit .500 in set two and had 15 kills to overmatch the Trojans' eight kills (.176 hitting). Klein and Smith each had three kills in set two, but OSU's efficiency earned the Buckeyes a 25-21 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
OSU led, 2-1, to open set three, but the Trojans turned the tables and went the distance to get on the board with a 25-20 win. Deuchar and Klein each contributed four kills apiece to the Trojans' 16. USC hit .636 in set three and got 3.5 blocks to hold the Buckeyes to .182 hitting with 10 kills.
The Trojans led nearly the entire way of set four. USC hit .917 with 11 kills on 12 swings without an error and racked up seven blocks for a 25-18 win. Paulson had six blocks including his solo stuff and Deuchar led the way with five kills. USC held Ohio State to a .083 hitting rate in the fourth with 11 kills (9e, 24att).
The fifth set was tied nine times before Ohio State closed out the victory with a 15-12 win. The Trojans scored just four points with three kills and a block while the Buckeyes served six errors in the frame.

UP NEXT

The Trojans return home to host CSUN at Galen Center on Wednesday (Jan. 24) and Central State on Thursday (Jan. 25). USC-CSUN will be shown live on Pac-12 Los Angeles while the Trojans and Marauders will be streamed live on the USC live stream platform. Tickets for both matches are available at USCTrojans.com/tickets.

MATCH NOTES

USC fell to 19-8 all-time against Ohio State and lost its fourth straight to the Buckeyes.
The Trojans recorded a higher hitting percentage and collected more blocks than their opponent for the sixth time.
USC reached double-digit blocks (15.5) for the fourth time this season.

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.