After defeating Quincy University, the No. 11 men’s volleyball team will travel to Chicago to take on Ball State in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association conference semifinals.

The second-seeded Buckeyes were led by senior middle hitter Scott Spurlock, who contributed a career-high 20 points on 15 kills, four assist blocks and one solo block. Junior outside hitter Mark Greaves also had a big part in the win, scoring a match-high 22 points on 20 kills, an ace serve, and two assist blocks.  

Although the Buckeyes (22-7) won the game, coach Pete Hanson said he felt that they were not efficient in the areas they had been working on the previous week in practice.

“Our blocking and defense will hopefully come back to us, and we talked about that after the game,” he said. “We’re going to need to get that back to win this weekend.”

Ohio State will face third seed Ball State (17-14) in Chicago this Friday in the MIVA semifinal match. The No. 15 Cardinals are coming off a 3-1 win over Mercyhurst in which second-team All-MIVA sophomore Nick Meyer scored a match-high 25 points on 22 kills.

The Buckeyes have taken four out of six games from Ball State this year, including a 3-2 victory in Muncie, Ind., on April 1.

The game against Quincy proved to be a wake up call, as the Buckeyes’ lack of intensity cost them a game-two loss. 

“I felt like as a whole we could’ve been more intense, but it’s hard when you beat a team 30-19,” junior middle-hitter Layne Dreven said. “But after we lost the intensity was back.”

Dreven was questionable heading into Saturday night’s matchup because of a sore hitting shoulder. Hanson listed Dreven as a starter, but was not positive after warm-ups that he would be able to play.

“It was a little sore during warm-ups, so I had the trainer stretch it and during the game it was fine,” Dreven said.

Dreven said that at this point in the season he was going to play through the injury no matter what, but he was a little apprehensive after how sore he was last week during pre-game warm-ups.

The conference tournament is single-elimination, so the Buckeyes must win Friday night in order to compete in the conference finals Saturday night. If the Buckeyes win both matches, they will travel to Los Angeles to participate in the NCAA finals.

“It’s a strange feeling knowing that if we lose it’s the last time I’ll ever put on a jersey,” senior outside hitter Mike Wauligman said. “Hopefully it’ll end in L.A. and not Loyola.”

Wauligman and Spurlock are the lone seniors on this years squad, and said they understand destiny is in their hands. 

“We’ve beaten everyone in the conference; therefore, we know we have the ability to beat anyone,” said Wauligman. “We know that if we lose it’s because we beat ourselves.”

On Friday night at Loyola, the Buckeyes will be playing a team they have not truly seen before during the regular season. The first time the Buckeyes faced Ball State, Hanson said the Cardinals were without their starting center and the following meeting the Cardinals were without their starting middle hitter. 

“Ball State is absolutely gunning for us,” Hanson said. “They’re telling their kids they’ve lost to us, but they haven’t had the best six guys on the floor and they can take Ohio State down.”

The Cardinals will most likely key on All-MIVA first teamers Dreven and Greaves in an effort to shut down the Buckeyes.

“I think to a certain extent that’s true,” Dreven said. “But we have a lot of depth so if they focus all their energy on us, that leaves room for other players to shine and take over.” 

The Buckeyes look to extend their winning streak to six games and continue their way to an NCAA championship. The game time for Friday night is still undecided, but the Buckeyes said they should be more prepared than they were for Quincy when the opening whistle is sounded.

“Clearly the stakes are going up,” said Hanson. “I don’t think there will be trouble getting the guys motivated and the understanding we have to play with a higher intensity.”