Around the Oval: Hockey's Streak Halted, Volleyball Continues to Roll

By TJ Neer on January 30, 2017 at 1:05 pm
Men's volleyball celebrates after downing Long Beach State for their record-tying 32nd consecutive win.
Ohio State Athletics.
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Over the past two or three weeks, many Ohio State athletic programs have been really hot. Well, that streak had to end eventually, as a couple of the top Buckeye athletic programs suffered losses this week.

Men's volleyball

The Buckeyes tied a school record with their 32nd consecutive victory after defeating Barton College on Friday and No. 4 Long Beach State on Saturday. The 32-match win streak matches a record set in 1969-70, when the team went undefeated in '69 and began the 1970 season with eight straight wins.

In addition, senior Miles Johnson and junior Nicolas Szerszen both moved into a tie as the school's all-time leaders in aces. Both passed Steve Potter to attain the record. The all-time collegiate record for consecutive wins is 47, set by UCLA.

Ohio State swept Barton College, and took down Long Beach State in four sets to secure a record-tying weekend.

This week, the Bucks will be taking on Ball State in Muncie, Ind., as they look to break the all-time winning streak.

Men's Ice Hockey

The No. 8 icers lost two consecutive games to Wisconsin, one in Columbus and one in Madison Square Garden to open their Big Ten matchups against the Badgers this season.

In the first game on Jan. 26, the Badgers scored two goals in the first ten minutes and never looked back, finishing the game with a 3-1 victory. The only Buckeye goal came from junior Matthew Weis in the second period, on an assist from sophomore Mason Jobst. Senior goalie Christian Frey tallied 22 saves.

In the second game, the Buckeyes played from behind for most of the time, but scored two goals in the final two minutes to excite the crowd in New York, but fell 3-2 in overtime to the Badgers. The two goals came from  sophomore Dakota Joshua and senior Josh Healey with less than two minutes left in the third and Frey notched 35 saves, including four in overtime.

Jobst extended his point streak to ten straight in the two-game set. 

Wrestling

No. 4 wrestling suffered their first dual-meet loss to No. 3 Iowa this week 21-13. The Buckeyes were without junior Kyle Snyder as he participated in the Ivan Yarygin Memorial Grand Prix in Russia over the weekend. He took home gold in the tournament, becoming the first American since Steve Mocco in 2009 to do so.

Three Buckeyes returned to the lineup after missing last week's dual against Maryland, including redshirt sophomore Micah Jordan and redshirt junior Bo Jordan, as well as 125-pounder  redshirt freshman Jose Rodriguez. Of those three returning, only Bo Jordan notched a win. Rodriguez lost via technical fall and No. 5 149-pounder Micah Jordan lost a decision to No. 3 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa). It was Micah Jordan's first loss of the year.

No. 1 Bo Jordan returned from injury to defeat his first ranked opponent on the season, No. 11 174-pounder Alex Meyer (Iowa). 

Snyder's absence proved to be pretty significant as the Buckeyes entered the heavyweight matchup down 18-13, needing a fall to secure a victory or a technical fall to tie. Both the Hawkeyes and the Bucks trotted out backups for the matchup.

Tennis

The third-ranked men's team Ohio State continued their strong start to the season with four more wins this week, sweeping each of their opponents.

The Buckeyes began by beating Butler and Xavier on Tuesday Jan. 24, and then Utah and Old Dominion on Friday and Saturday.

No. 7 women's tennis downed Alabama, Florida State, Wright State and Bowling Green, also sweeping each opponent. 

Both teams secured a spot at the International Tennis Association's National Team Indoors tournament. 

Women's Ice Hockey

Women's Icers had a tough weekend, taking on No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth on Friday and Saturday.

The Buckeyes were outscored by a total of 9-1, dropping the Friday matchup 6-1. Freshman Rebecca Freiburger scored the Buckeyes' lone goal in the game.

On Saturday, the Bucks were downed 3-0. Goalkeeper Kassidy Sauve had 29 saves on the night.

Women's Gymnastics

The Buckeyes had a good week, scoring the 10th-highest total score in program history, but lost their matchup against Minnesota 196.800-196.450.

As has been the theme with this team, junior Alexis Mattern tied for the all-around title with a score of 39.375, and tied her career high of 9.900 on vault.

Redshirt sophomore Kaitlyn Hofland also tied a career high on the uneven bars with a 9.9, but finished second in the event. Freshman Olivia Aepli scored a 9.850 in the same event to set a new career high, and to tie with Mattern for third-place.

Other events

Both the men's and women's swimming team lost their swimming matchups at the University of Michigan. The women fell 212-88 while the men lost 186-114.

The men's lacrosse team will begin the regular season on Feb. 5 against Furman University.

Ohio State sent 10 throwers from the Track & Field team to the Findlay Classic. Among those was junior Nick Demaline, who won the ELITE shot put event and put up a personal best.

Upcoming events

  • Feb. 2 - No. 1 Men's Volleyball @ Ball State
  • Feb. 3 - Men's/Women's Swimming vs. Wright State
  • Feb.3 - Wrestling vs. Penn State (in Schottenstein Center)
  • Feb. 3 - Men's Tennis vs. University of South Florida
  • Feb. 3, 4 - Women's Ice Hockey vs. St. Cloud State
  • Feb. 3, 4 - Men's Ice Hockey @ Michigan
  • Feb. 3, 4 - Track & Field Meyo Invite (South Bend, Ind.)
  • Feb. 4 - Women's Gymnastics vs. Rutgers
  • Feb. 4 - Men's Gymnastics vs. Michigan (Michigan CO-ed)
  • Feb. 4 - Track & Field Armory Invite (New York City)
  • Feb. 4 - Synchronized Swimming Jessica Beck Memorial Meet (Columbus, Ohio)
  • Feb. 4, 5 - Rifle PRC Championships (Columbus, Ohio)
  • Feb. 5 - Men's Lacrosse vs. Furman
  • Feb. 5 - Women's Tennis @ Vanderbilt
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