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A two-time NCAA Tournament finals match-up from last decade will get renewed during the 2023 regular season.
Ohio State as part of unveiling its schedule for the upcoming season announced it will travel for a two-match non-conference road series against BYU on March 10-11.
The Buckeyes defeated the Cougars in the 2016 and 2017 finals to win back-to-back NCAA championships. The two teams have played each other twice since those NCAA Tournament finals with BYU winning the most recent meeting in 2019.
Ohio State ended last season in fourth place in the MIVA and lost in the conference tournament quarterfinals.
Among the returning starters for the Buckeyes includes First-Team All-MIVA outside attacker Jacob Pasteur. Pasteur was in the nation’s top 15 with a 4.03 kills per game average in 2022 and spent the offseason competing with the U.S. Men’s National Team in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
BYU one-year removed from making the NCAA Tournament finals went 8-17 in 2022 – the program’s fewest wins in a single-season since 1996. The Cougars return multiple starters and added setter Heath Hughes who transferred from Grand Canyon after starting more than 40 matches for the Antelopes the last three years.
The road series against BYU will be the fourth MPSF opponent that Ohio State will play next season.
Ohio State will play Grand Canyon on Jan. 14 during a non-conference event at George Mason. It also will face USC and UCLA as part of the annual Big Ten Pac-12 Challenge on Feb. 3-4 at Penn State.
2023 Ohio State regular season schedule
Jan. 5 vs. Central State
Jan. 7 vs. Penn State
Jan. 14 vs. Grand Canyon (at George Mason)
Jan. 15 at George Mason
Jan. 20 vs. Maryville
Jan. 21 vs. Missouri S&T
Jan. 26 vs. Long Beach State
Jan. 27 vs. Princeton
Feb. 3 vs. USC (at Penn State)
Feb. 4 vs. UCLA (at Penn State)
Feb. 9 vs. McKendree
Feb. 11 vs. Lewis
Feb. 16 at Purdue Fort Wayne
Feb. 18 at Loyola
Feb. 24 at Quincy
Feb. 25 at Lindenwood
March 4 vs. Charleston
March 10 at BYU
March 11 at BYU
March 15 at Ball State
March 18 vs. Ball State
March 21 at Penn State
March 24 vs. Lindenwood
March 25 vs. Quincy
March 30 at Lewis
April 1 at McKendree
April 6 vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
April 8 vs. Loyola