Men's Volleyball Upsets 14th Ranked Buckeyes in Five Sets

Wednesday, March 5

Fort Wayne, Ind.

7 p.m.

Purdue Fort Wayne

11-3, 4-2MIVA

Ohio State

7-8, 4-4MIVA

Ohio State

IPFW

Photo by: Lucas Carter

Men's Volleyball Upsets 14th Ranked Buckeyes in Five Sets

3/5/2014 10:26:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

BOX SCORE | BOX SCORE (.pdf) | BOX SCORE (.html)

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - For the second time in as many years, the IPFW men's volleyball team knocked off nationally ranked Ohio State - again in five sets - topping the 14th ranked Buckeyes 22-25, 25-22, 27-29, 25-23, 15-10 on Wednesday evening in a critical MIVA match-up.

Eddie Rivera knocked down a season-high 19 kills in the match, while Andrew Sellan added 18 kills in the winning effort. Omar Rivera dished out 55 assists, with he and Eddie Rivera serving up two service aces apiece.

Luis Bertran dug up 13 kill attempts while Omar Rivera added 10 for a double-double. Ramon Burgos, who had nine kills, led the team with eight blocks as Eddie Rivera helped out with six and IPFW out-blocked Ohio State 16.5-to-8.0 in the win.

IPFW's 11-3 record is the best 14-game start to a season since the 1999 team also opened the year 11-3 before advancing to the NCAA Final Four.

The Mastodons trailed early in the first set; however, the Buckeyes could not pull ahead by more than three points in the frame. An Eddie Rivera ace put the Mastodons ahead for the first time in the match at 21-20, but Ohio State closed the first set on a 5-1 run to take the opening frame 25-22.

Ohio State jumped out quickly, leading 14-10 before IPFW scored seven of the next eight points, pushing ahead to a 17-15 lead. Ohio State would close to within one as late as 22-21; however, IPFW put together a set-ending 3-1 streak to even the match at one set apiece.

The third set saw the Mastodons jump ahead early and led by three at 20-17 before the Buckeyes fought their way back, defending against four set points, only to force IPFW to stave off a pair of set-ending points before the Buckeyes got the set-ending point on a service ace, putting the visitors ahead 2-1 in the match.

The fourth set saw 13 ties and six lead changes, as the largest lead gained by either team was three points when the Buckeyes went ahead 15-12. From there IPFW scored three in a row to knot the score, and led by three after a Rivera kill, taking the score to 23-20. Down by three, the Buckeyes would not have enough room for a comeback, as the Mastodons once again evened the match with a 25-23 fourth-set win.

The Mastodons return to action for a pair of weekend games against King and Belmont Abbey, both at home.

~ Feel the Rumble ~

IPFW jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the deciding set, and never looked back, never trailing in the frame, and closing the contest on a Jeremy Swartz ace that gave the Mastodons the 15-10 win.

~ Feel the Rumble ~