The weekend for the Ohio State men’s volleyball team could have been described in a couple of ways; black and white, night and day or perhaps back and forth. It certainly cannot be described how the team would have liked it – consistent.

The No. 12 Buckeyes got the 3-0 sweep (30-28, 30-13, 30-21) over D’Youville (2-3) Friday at St. John Arena but lost a hard-fought match against No. 14 Lewis (4-5) in five games (30-25, 23-30, 30-26, 28-30, 15-12).

OSU (4-3 overall, 0-1 Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) traded wins with Lewis mostly because the Buckeyes didn’t play with the consistency needed to win from game to game.

“In game two we played almost flawless volleyball,” said OSU men’s volleyball coach Pete Hanson. “We looked like an all-world team out there.”

Game three played like game one, with the Flyers taking the win both times.

“Game three we reverted back to the way we were playing in game one,” Hanson said. “We weren’t playing with the confidence that we had before.”

The Buckeyes took game four but fell behind early in game five and staged a brief comeback that was held off by the Flyers for the match victory.

“It was a seesaw match all day. Lewis would play poorly, then we would play bad,” Hanson said. “We gave up three points to give them the win. We just couldn’t make three plays down the stretch.”

The Buckeyes received balanced scoring in the match. Outside hitter Mark Greaves led the Buckeyes with a team-high 19 points on 12 kills, two serving aces and a career-high 10 assist blocks. Also in double digits for OSU was Scott Spurlock, Adam Pedersen, Mike Wauligman and Andy Cole with 18.5, 18, 17.5 and 14 points, respectively. The Flyers were led by Jeff Soler, who scored a match-high 27 points.

OSU avoided disaster in Friday’s win over D’Youville. The Spartans led 15-14 at the technical timeout, and the two teams exchanged points down the stretch. D’Youville took the lead, 28-27, but the Buckeyes got points from a Spartan error and a Cole serving ace to close out the game.

“I told the guys we’ve got to quit playing at the level of our opponents (between games one and two),” Hanson said. “We have to come out and establish our level of playing and don’t let the other team back in.”

The Buckeyes, who dominated games two and three to get the match victory, were led by Sam Stevens and his 10 points from six kills, two serving aces, a solo block and two assist blocks off the bench.

“We should have played better (Friday). In the first game we played with no intensity but the second game we showed more emotion out there,” Wauligman said. “I think we were a little too focused on Lewis. We should have been done a lot quicker.”

The Buckeyes may have taken D’Youville too lightly in preparing for Lewis later during the weekend, Layne Dreven said.

“We have been focusing on Lewis all week. This is the game for us. We’ve been watching tape and scouting them so much that we let this game slip away (until Thursday),” Dreven said. “Nobody looked like they were giving it their all out there. We were waiting for the win, not taking it.”

OSU will play against Indiana-Purdue in Fort Wayne, Ind., Friday before coming back Saturday to play Clarke at St. John Arena.

“IPFW beat Lewis earlier this season, so we’re here thinking ‘This is going to be real tough,'” Hanson said. “It’s sort of a rivalry game for us, so they’re going to be geared up for it. They are certainly a beatable team, but no matter who shows up, we have to go out there and take charge.”

The match Saturday with Clarke won’t be as tough, Hanson said, but the squad will need the victory for a successful weekend.

“Clarke is perennially the weakest opponent we will face, but if we don’t get that first win, Saturday’s game becomes a must-win for us,” Hanson said. “This weekend is big for us to build up some momentum. We have a nice stretch of home games coming up and we certainly need to take care of business on our home court.”