Around The Oval: Ohio State Men’s Volleyball Beats No. 1 UCLA and No. 13 USC, Wrestling Takes Down No. 25 Maryland and No. 17 Wisconsin and Nadine Muzerall Makes History

By Chase Brown on January 22, 2024 at 1:05 pm
Ohio State Men's Volleyball
Ohio State Dept. of Athletics
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Anonther week, another Around The Oval.

In this week's edition of ATO, Eleven Warriors' one-stop shop for coverage of the Buckeyes' Olympic sports programs, we'll look at an incredible weekend for Ohio State wrestling, men's volleyball, men's and women's swim and dive and women’s ice hockey.

Over the weekend, we also covered Ohio State women's basketball's win over Iowa and how the Buckeyes' win can generate future success for and interest in the program.

Let's take a stroll around The Oval, Ohio State’s 11-acre lawn at the heart of campus.

Wrestling

Ohio State (11-1, 3-0 Big Ten) captured two ranked victories over the weekend. The No. 7 Buckeyes beat the No. 25 Maryland Terrapins, 38-4, in Columbus on Friday and defeated the No. 17 Wisconsin Badgers, 27-15, in Madison on Sunday.

Ohio State's 10-man lineup looked almost identical in both matches, save for the 197-pound weight class, where Gavin Bell and Luke Geog competed on Friday and Sunday. The Buckeyes had six wrestlers win both of the matches over the weekend, including Nic Bouzakis, Jesse Mendez, Dylan D'Emilio, Isaac Wilcox, Rocco Welsh and Nick Feldman.

Here is how each of Ohio State's wrestlers performed:

Brendan McCrone, 125 pounds: McCrone's weekend was hot and cold. On Friday, he almost pinned Tommy Capul (Maryland) but had to settle for an 11-1 major decision. On Sunday, McCrone fell to No. 4 Eric Barnett (Wisconsin), as the veteran Badger needed just 32 seconds to pin him.

No. 12 Nic Bouzakis, 133 pounds: Bouzakis collected two bonus-point victories in Ohio State's Big Ten wins. He recorded a 21-5 tech fall over No. 21 Braxton Brown (Maryland) and closed the weekend with a 19-11 major decision over Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin).

No. 3 Jesse Mendez, 141 pounds: After he was named an All-American as a freshman last season, Mendez has been one of the best underclassmen in the nation in 2023-24. Mendez's success continued over the weekend, as he claimed a 10-2 major decision over No. 14 Kal Miller (Maryland) and a 21-5 tech fall over Felix Lettini (Wisconsin).

No. 9 Dylan D'Emilio, 149 pounds: D'Emilio's success at 149 pounds has been much-needed for the Buckeyes, who had seen Sammy Sasso lock down the weight class for the past four seasons. D'Emilio earned two victories over the weekend, recording a 14-6 major decision over No. 17 Ethen Miller (Maryland) and a 13-6 major decision over No. 22 Joseph Zargo (Wisconsin).

Isaac Wilcox, 157 pounds: After Ohio State head coach Tom Ryan announced Paddy Gallagher would be out for the season, Wilcox has filled in for the Buckeyes at 157 pounds and found immediate success. In both matches, Wilcox continued Ohio State's success after four classes, recording a 15-1 major decision over Michael North (Maryland) and a 4-2 decision over Luke Mechler (Wisconsin).

No. 22 Bryce Hepner, 165 pounds: Like McCrone, Hepner had a hot-and-cold weekend for the Buckeyes. He started with a 14-2 major decision over AJ Rodrigues (Maryland). However, Hepner couldn't create the same production against No. 5 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin), who put on a takedown clinic and defeated Hepner with an 18-3 tech fall.

No. 30 Rocco Welsh, 174 pounds: In addition to Gallagher, No. 8 Carson Kharchla will also be out for the season with an undisclosed ailment. Ohio State has turned to No. 30 Welsh at 174 pounds, and the freshman has performed well in Kharchla's absence. Welsh secured a 14-4 major decision over Dom Solis (Maryland) and a 7-3 decision over No. 11 Max Maylor (Wisconsin) to end the weekend with two victories.

Seth Shumate, 184 pounds: Unfortunately, Ohio State's injuries extend beyond Gallagher and Kharchla, as Gavin Hoffman is another wrestler who could be out for the season. With Hoffman unavailable, Shumate entered the lineup and collected a 15-5 major decision over Chase Mielnik (Maryland) but suffered a 14-3 major decision loss to No. 16 Shane Liegel (Wisconsin).

Gavin Bell and No. 22 Luke Geog, 197 pounds: Bell faced No. 5 Jaxon Smith (Maryland) and suffered a 16-4 major decision loss. Geog, Ohio State's usual starter at 197 pounds, returned to the lineup for the Buckeyes' battle with the Badgers and collected an 8-2 decision over Josh Otto.

No. 17 Nick Feldman, HWT: Two matches meant two tech falls for Feldman. First, he secured a 17-2 tech fall over Sam O'Brian (Maryland) and put the final stamp on Ohio State's 38-4 win against the Terrapins. Then, he collected a 19-3 tech fall over Gannon Rosenfield to help the Buckeyes win their dual against the Badgers, 27-15.

Ohio State's season will continue on Friday at 7 p.m. when the Buckeyes host the Michigan Wolverines at the Covelli Center. Big Ten Network will televise the dual.

Men's Volleyball

Ohio State men's volleyball is the real deal.

At the First Point Collegiate Classic in Austin, Texas, the No. 4 Buckeyes defeated No. 1 UCLA, 3-2 (19-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 15-13) in five sets and rallied to beat No. 13 USC, 3-2 (25-20, 25-21, 20-25, 18-25, 15-12) in five sets.

UCLA

Jacob Pasteur led Ohio State with a career-high 23 kills, and Michael Wright collected 46 assists in the win. The Buckeyes also received stellar contributions from Shane Wetzel (13 kills), Justin Howard (four kills and four blocks), Ben Putnam and Cole Young. For the match, Ohio State hit .305 and had a .483 kill percentage. UCLA hit .366 and had a .500 kill percentage.

USC

While Pasteur was excellent for the second consecutive contest with 13 kills, Wetzel paced the Buckeyes with 17 kills in Ohio State's win over USC. Similarly, Wright took a backseat to Noah Platfoot against the Trojans as Platfoot led the team with 27 assists. Those numbers prove that contributions can come from all over Kevin Burch's roster as Ohio State improved to 6-0 on the season.

Ohio State will receive another round of tests this week when the Buckeyes host No. 7 Penn State on Thursday (7 p.m.) at the Covelli Center. Two days later, Ohio State will travel to University Park, Pennsylvania, for a rematch with the Nittany Lions at Rec Hall.

Swim and Dive

Ohio State swim and dive made history on Saturday.

For the first time ever, Ohio State's women's team has defeated Michigan in three consecutive seasons. The men's team, on the other hand, has defeated the Wolverines in three consecutive seasons for the first time since the early 1950s.

Ohio State women's ice hockey swept No. 7 Minnesota-Duluth at the OSU Ice Rink over the weekend. With the wins, the No. 1 Buckeyes improved to 20-2-1 on the season.

The victories also made head coach Nadine Muzerall the winningest coach in program history, as she improved to now 179-71-19 in eight seasons as leader of the Buckeyes. The previous record for head coach wins at Ohio State was 178 by Jackie Barto, who coached Ohio State for its first 12 seasons.

This weekend, Ohio State will travel to Minnesota to face St. Cloud State. The two-game series with the Huskies is set for 4 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Other Results

  • Ohio State men's tennis opened its season with sweeps of Eastern Illinois and Xavier. The Buckeyes are the No. 2-ranked team in America and will face Northern Kentucky, Toledo, Vanderbilt and either Oregon or Boise State this week.
  • Ohio State rifle set a new team aggregate score record by firing a 4717 vs. TCU on Sunday at the Hugh W. Wylie Range in Columbus. Viktor Kiss, Derek Keiser, and Paige Hollowell all posted scores over 1180. Frank Steyn and Eva Horgan also fired season-best aggregate scores of 1158.
  • The Ohio State fencing programs competed in the Philadelphia Invitational hosted by Penn in the Tse Center in Philadelphia. Ohio State's men were 4-1 on the afternoon with the women 2-3. This season, the Ohio State men are 23-6 overall, while the women have a 16-12 record.
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