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Purdue Fort Wayne
Ohio State
We're Dancin' Again
4/29/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
April 28, 2007
Columbus, OH - Forgive the 10th ranked IPFW Mastodons if they felt a bit of "deja-vu" going into Saturday night's Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Championships.
For the second straight year, the Mastodons entered the MIVA tournament as the number two seed and had to face the top seed, in the championship match, on their home floor.
Last year the 'Dons topped Loyola-Chicago in the MIVA Final. This season, the Mastodons did it again, this time with a 3-0 sweep of Ohio State.
IPFW dominated the Buckeyes by the scores of 30-22, 30-27, and 30-26.
The Mastodons got out of the gate quickly, taking an 18-10 lead in the opening set on a quick dump kill by senior setter Colin Lundeen.
IPFW kept the pressure on, and on a service ace by junior All-America C.J. Macias and an attack error by the Buckeyes, IPFW took the first set by eight.
Ohio State (23-4) jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second set on four Mastodon errors and a service ace by sophomore middle hitter John Albertson. IPFW burned both of its timeouts by the five-point mark in the set, but it was a strategy by head coach Arnie Ball that worked.
Out of the timeout, Macias got IPFW on the board with a kill, and the Mastodons were back in business.
The 'Dons chipped away and took their first lead of the second set after a ball-handling error by OSU setter Daniel Mathews. However, that wasn't the biggest error of the set for Mathews. After a kill by Lundeen to make it 28-27, IPFW, Mathews was given a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct. The card carried a point penalty giving the 'Dons a set point, which was converted for the 2-0 lead.
In the third set, IPFW took a 5-4 lead on a kill by junior opposite Jason Yhost.
IPFW never trailled again and swept the top seed to return to the Final Four.
Macias led the Mastodons (22-7) with 13 kills, hitting a blistering .579.
Junior opposite Brock Ullrich put together a nice match with 11 kills, a service ace, and four digs.
Yhost added 10 kills from the opposite. He had six digs, a solo block, and a block assist.
Lundeen and senior middle hitter Vitor Oliveira each put down six balls. Oliveira hit .857, while Lundeen dished out 36 assists, had six digs, fired off an ace, and had a block solo. The performace earned Lundeen the Tournament MVP Award.
Ohio State was led by outside hitter Brett Versen with a match-high 16 kills. Outside hitter Robbie Klein put down 15 balls for the Buckeyes.
Colin Lundeen Named MIVA Tournament MVP  |
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Along with Lundeen's MVP performance, Macias, Ullrich, and junior middle hitter Josh Stewart were named to the All-Tournament Team.
IPFW will take a nine-game winning streak into the Final Four, which begins on Thursday at Ohio State.
Final Four pairings will be announced Sunday evening.
No. 7 Penn State also punched its ticket into the dance Saturday night by sweeping St. Francis (PA) 30-28, 30-16, and 30-27.
Pepperdine and UC-Irvine are in the finals of the MPSF.
~Dons~
