When a team has five consecutive home matches on its schedule, it typically has its mind set on winning all five.
After defeating Saint Francis Sunday 3-1 to kick off a five game homestand, the Ohio State men’s volleyball team (5-5) is looking to notch its second straight victory Saturday when it is set to take on No. 10 Lewis (8-3).
A victory against the Flyers will see the No. 14 Buckeyes’s record back above .500 after dropping back-to-back matches at Loyola and Penn State.
The team is looking to continue to build off the momentum from their four-set victory against Saint Francis (25-19, 29-31, 25-23, 25-17) in preparation for the upcoming match against Lewis.
“I thought we brought good pressure from the service line (against Saint Francis),” redshirt-junior opposite Andrew Lutz said. “I think if we keep up that pressure we will be in good shape for this weekend.”
A total of three Buckeyes tallied double-digit kills in the win against Saint Francis, as Lutz led the way with 17. Redshirt-freshman middle blocker Driss Guessous finished with a career-high 16, while junior outside hitter Michael Henchy chipped in 14 of his own.
OSU had many other players who contributed to the win against the Red Flash on Sunday as well.
Junior middle blocker Dustan Neary hit a .778, having seven kills on nine attempts with no errors. He also totaled four block assists in the win. Freshman setter Christy Blough had a career-best 57 assists. Freshman outside hitter Gabriel Domecus tied a career-high with 12 digs and freshman outside hitter Miles Johnson contributed eight kills along with two service aces and seven digs.
The Buckeyes are anticipating a big match this weekend against the Flyers.
“We are expecting a very competitive and fun match. This is one of our biggest conference rivals,” Blough said.
The team is focusing on the Flyers’ strengths and weaknesses in hopes of tallying another win. A big part of Lewis’ game is its ability to hit the ball with ferocity, Lutz said.
“They (Lewis) are very good at hitting out of trouble. They aren’t the best passing team, so they’ve gotten good at hitting out of bad situations,” he said.
Game time is set for 7 p.m.
