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Purdue Fort Wayne
Ohio State
Mastodons Fall to MIVA Leader, No. 11 Buckeyes
4/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
April 10, 2009
Columbus, OH – Despite 18 kills from Ben Duckworth, the IPFW Mastodons (12-11, 3-4 MIVA) couldn’t keep up with No. 11 Ohio State (13-9, 9-1 MIVA) Friday night as the Buckeyes downed IPFW 3-0 (30-20, 30-19, 30-25).
Duckworth paced all players Friday with 18 kills (18-8-37) as Darryl Shank pitched in eight, Nathaniel Berg added six while Oliver Kook and Phil Peterson added four and three respectively. Setter Corey Stewart also logged a kill.
Ohio State rushed to a quick 7-3 lead before IPFW coach Arnie Ball called an early timeout to try and settle his players. The Buckeyes continued to control the pace of the match however going on a 15-6 run to lead 22-9. Duckworth had back-to-back kills as the ‘Dons trailed 16-25. Stewart’s lone kill came late in the first set with an assist from Shank. Set one ended with an IPFW ball handling error. OSU took the first one 30-20.
The second set began with Kook finding Shank for a kill, but OSU regained the lead with a service ace from John Klanac at 2-1. The two teams stayed relatively close much of the first half of the set and IPFW got as close as two when it only trailed 8-10. After that the Bucks went on a 6-1 run to open the lead up. Ohio State led 25-14 before the ‘Dons went on a late 3-0 run thanks in part to kills from Kook and Duckworth. Ohio State called a timeout at that point and won five of the following seven points to win the set 30-19.
The final set began with IPFW taking a 2-0 lead and keeping it briefly until OSU tied things up at 4-4. The two teams teetered back and forth during much of the set. The third frame remained close at 13-13 after an OSU service error. At that point the Bucks went on a 3-0 run and maintained the lead from there on. IPFW trailed by four at 17-21, but the ‘Dons weren’t ready to throw in the towel as they forced two OSU attack errors and Peterson nailed a kill to catch up to 20-21. At that point Ohio State used a timeout to halt the ‘Dons momentum. OSU banged off two more kills before the ‘Dons used their first timeout trailing 20-23. Duckworth had two final kills late, but it was OSU’s block which kept the Bucks in the driver seat. Berg had the ‘Dons final kill and the Buckeyes finished the match with a service ace, 30-25.
Ohio State’s Ted Schoenfeldt, last week’s conference and national player of the week, had a team-high 14 kills, five digs, and two service aces. Mik Berzins led all players with 10 digs. Setter Steven Kehoe led all players with 38 assists.
For IPFW, Corey Stewart started at setter before Dan Mader came in near the end of the match. The two had 18 and 13 assists respectively. OSU hit .392 on the evening to IPFW’s .148. The Buckeyes edged out IPFW on the block with an 8.5-7.5 advantage.
IPFW returns to Fort Wayne for the final regular season home contest of the year. Saturday's (tomorrow) match against in-state conference rival Ball State will begin at 7:00 PM. Fans are encouraged to wear blue attire for the “BLUE OUT” to support prostate cancer awareness.
~Dons~
