GAME DAY LINKS
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WATCH
(LEBANON, Ill., March 30) – The McKendree University men's volleyball team heads to Columbus, OH this weekend to take on the defending national champions and No. 1 ranked Buckeyes of Ohio State University for a pair of Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association matches beginning Friday at 6 p.m. before wrapping up Saturday at 6 p.m.
The Bearcats are coming off a weekend sweep over No. 11 Ball State and Fort Wayne to improve their record to 9-16 overall and 4-8 in league play where they currently sit in sixth.
Senior opposite
Maalik Walker (Shorewood, IL/Minooka) is third in the MIVA with an average of 3.54 kills per set to go with 1.15 digs and .53 blocks. Junior outside hitter
Nolan Rueter (Burlington, WI/Burlington) is second on the team with 2.82 kills per set along with 1.42 digs and .46 blocks. Senior middle hitter
Wyatt Patterson (Flossmoor, IL/Homewood-Flossmoor) has put down 1.92 kills per set and ranks second in the nation in attack percentage at .480. Junior setter
Pasquale Fiduccia (Hanover Park, IL/Glenbard North) ranks ninth in the country in assists per set, averaging 10.12 to go with 1.68 digs and .46 blocks per set. Junior middle blocker
Brendan Schmidt (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West) has put down 1.66 kills, while ranking second in the league with 1.24 blocks per set. Senior opposite
Andrew Schnittker (Arlington Heights, IL/Buffalo Grove) and sophomore outside hitter
Will Frank (Moro, IL/Edwardsville) have added 2.55 and 1.49 kills per set respectively. Sophomore libero
Zach Thompson (Defiance, MO/Francis Howell) sits third in the MIVA with 2.11 digs per set this season.
ABOUT OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
The Buckeyes enter the weekend with a record of 23-2 and lead the conference with a 12-0 mark. Ohio State had its 42-match win streak snapped this earlier this season as the Buckeyes went 399 between losses. Senior opposite Miles Johnson and junior outside hitter Nicolas Szerzen rank one and two in the league in kills per set, eighth, and ninth nationally with averages of 3.87 and 3.70. Johnson swings .350 from the field to go with 1.19 digs and .81 blocks per set, while Szerszen is hitting .380 with 1.58 digs per set. Junior outside hitter Maxime Hervoir is the only other Buckeye to average over two kills per set at 2.34, adding 1.39 digs and .67 blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Blake Leeson has put down 1.24 kills per set while leading the team in both hitting percentage and blocks per set at .451 and 1.01. Senior setter Christy Blough is second in the MIVA and seventh in the nation in assists per set with 10.33 to pair with 1.23 digs. Senior libero Gabriel Domecus averages 2.00 digs per set from the back row for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes are 18-0 versus common opponents of McKendree this season, while the Bearcats are 5-11 in those contests. Ohio State is 5-0 all-time against the Bearcats with each of the five matches finishing in four sets. The two programs last met in the semifinals of the 2016 MIVA Tournament as McKendree took its lone set in a 34-32 marathon set two win in a 3-1 victory for the Buckeyes in route to the programs 15
th MIVA title and second national championship.
