Ohio State signs high school middle attacker from California

The defending NCAA champions have signed one of the top high school middle attackers in the nation.

Ohio State announced Monday that high school senior Driss Guessous signed a National Letter of Intent and will join the Buckeyes beginning in the 2013 season.


Guessous, a 6-foot-7 middle attacker from Pasadena, Calif., earlier this year helped lead his club team to a silver medal at the USA Volleyball Junior National Championships. Along with playing for the Manhattan Beach Surf Volleyball Club, he is a member of the Loyola High School boys’ volleyball team.

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“We are excited about having someone with this kind of size and athleticism join our program,” Buckeyes’ coach Pete Hanson said in a statement. “Driss is the type of student-athlete that will have great success at Ohio State. We are thankful that he will be joining us next fall.”

Ohio State defeated UC Santa Barbara in the 2011 NCAA championship match to become the first MIVA team to legally win a NCAA title. The Buckeyes last season en route to their first national championship also won their fifth consecutive MIVA regular season — the first team to accomplish the feat since Ball State in the 1960s.

Guessous is the 12th Californian to sign a National Letter of Intent with Ohio State in the last three years.

Eleven of the 24 players on the Buckeyes’ active roster for the upcoming season are from California. Ohio State has the highest percentage of West Coast players for any non-West Coast team in the nation.