Box Score (COLUMBUS, Ohio, January 2)—The McKendree University men's volleyball team made its Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association debut Friday night with a four-set loss at Ohio State University. The host and 14
th-ranked Buckeyes turned back the Bearcats by scores of 25-17, 25-12, 23-25 and 25-17.
McKendree and Ohio State will meet again Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET to wrap up a two-match weekend series in Columbus, Ohio.
Sophomore right-side hitter
Maalik Walker (Shorewood, IL/Minooka) and freshman middle blocker
Brendan Schmidt (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West) shared team-high honors with eight kills each to lead McKendree. Schmidt also put down a team-best four blocks in his first match with the Bearcats. Freshman opposite
Jared Wilcox (Warrenville, IL/Wheaton-Warrenville South) connected for six attacks in the contest.
Freshman setter
Ian Zalewski (Orland Park, IL/Carl Sandburg) handed out 24 assists, while freshman libero
Evan Lockwood (Maitland, FL/Winter Park) contributed six digs in the back row for McKendree.
Ohio State (1-0, 1-0 MIVA) dominated play in the first two sets, hitting .318 and .571, respectively, to build a two-set lead over McKendree. The Bearcats bounced back with a hard-fought triumph in the third set, thanks in part to posting a .381 hitting percentage. The Buckeyes held the lead in the early stages of the set, pulling out to a four-point advantage on five different occasions. Trailing 20-16, McKendree scored five of six points to knot the contest at 21-21.
After Ohio State scored to regain a 22-21 advantage, Walker put down three consecutive kills to push McKendree in front to stay at 24-22. The Buckeyes managed to scratch out a point to pull within one before an attack error gave the Bearcats the third-set win to pull within 2-1.
The teams went toe-to-toe for the first half of the fourth set. McKendree took its final lead of the night at 12-11 following another attack by Walker. After calling a timeout, Ohio State responded by scoring four of the next five points to pull in front for good.
Miles Johnson led Ohio State with 15 kills, while Nicolas Szerszen helped out with 14 attacks and a team-best six digs for the Buckeyes.
