BYU, Ohio State advance to the NCAA Finals - Articles

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — National player of the year Nicolas Szerszen blasted a walk-off ace Thursday night to propel Ohio State past UCLA and into the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship title match against BYU, which earlier in the night beat MPSF foe Long Beach State. The third-seeded Buckeyes, who advanced Tuesday by beating George Mason in a play-in match, knocked off second-ranked and No. 2 seed UCLA in a thrilling five-set match, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 18-16. The Buckeyes (30-3) keep alive the chances of a MIVA team winning the title for the third year in a row. League foe Loyola won the last two years. UCLA, making its first appearance in the national semifinals since 2006, saw its season end 25-7. Miles Johnson led the Buckeyes with 20 kills, Szerszen had 13, and setter Christy Blough, who continually came up big all night, had a couple of key kills and 43 assists. Jake Arnitz led UCLA with 18 kills Brenden Sander led top-ranked and No. 1 seed BYU past No. 4 seed Long Beach 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 25-18. Sander led the Cougars with 14 kills and no attack errors and .583. Ben Patch had 13 kills and Michael Hatch contributed five blocks. Leo Durkin had 42 assists while Erik Sikes chipped in a team-high eight digs. BYU improved to 27-3 as it advanced to Saturday night’s national-championship match in Rec Hall on the Penn State campus. Long Beach’s season ended 26-7. "I just want to say hats off to Long Beach State," BYU coach...

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