Quick hits: 5 things to take away from the weekend in college volleyball

Check out the five things to take away from the NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball matches this weekend.


Ohio State streak reaches 40 — No. 1/1 Ohio State rallied from a 10-8 deficit in the fifth game and closed out the match on a 4-0 run with All-American outside attacker Nicholas Szerszen serving to beat Grand Canyon on Sunday. With this victory, the Buckeyes became the sixth team in NCAA men’s volleyball history to have a winning streak of at least 40 matches. In addition, Szerszen finished with a match-high 22 kills and had an ace to set up the match-point.

Rainbow Warriors offense tame Waves — Opposite Stijn van Tilburg had a combined 32 kills on a .583 attack percentage as No. 4/4 Hawai’i swept both matches against No. 10/10 Pepperdine in their weekend series. The Rainbow Warriors in the series opener committed a season-low seven attack errors and hit .477. The two victories move Hawai’i into sole possession of third place in the MPSF and extends its winning streak to a conference-best 11 matches.

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UC Irvine adds to UCLA woes — UC Irvine All-American outside attacker Tamir Hershko finished with a match-high 23 kills while hitting .438 and had the match-winning kill in a fifth-game overtime against No. 6/6 UCLA. Despite out-hitting and out-blocking No. 7/8 UC Irvine, this was UCLA’s sixth loss this month and dropped the Bruins into fifth place in the MPSF. The Anteaters also set a season-high at the home match Friday with 2,253 people in attendance.

Logjam atop EIVA — Every EIVA team already has two losses in conference play following this weekend’s matches. In addition, three teams are within two matches of first-place No. 15 Penn State, which rebounded from two losses last week to beat both George Mason and Charleston during the weekend.

King, Mount Olive atop ConfCarolinas — King swept Limestone on Saturday to move into a tie with Mount Olive for first place in the Conference Carolinas. Opposite Kiel Bell finished with both a match-high 11 kills on a .556 attack percentage and 11 digs to help extend the Tornado’s winning streak to three matches.