Junior setter Sanil Thomas sets the ball during the second set of No. 3 Ohio State’s match against No. 8 Penn State on Jan. 28, 2018 in St. John Arena. The Buckeyes defeated the Nittany Lions in straight sets (25-19, 25-15, 25-17) to pick up their fifth win of the season. Credit: Aliyyah Jackson | Senior Reporter
The No. 7 Ohio State men’s volleyball team (2-2) lost its second-straight match against No. 11 Stanford (4-0) on Saturday.
The Buckeyes were, once again, plagued by service errors, committing 26 in total, doubling Stanford’s match total.
Senior setter Sanil Thomas had one kill and two errors on three attacks, but provided 41 assists and his serve to begin the match was an ace.
Redshirt sophomore opposite hitter Jake Hanes led the Buckeyes with 24 kills and two aces, also committing a team-high seven service errors.
Losing a close first set, 25-22, in which Hanes tallied nine kills and a service ace, Ohio State came back to win an even closer second set, 26-24, in large part because of three kills and two blocks by redshirt senior middle blocker Blake Leeson.
The Buckeyes jumped out to a quick three-point lead in the third set, but couldn’t maintain it as two blocks and two aces from Stanford and eight Ohio State service errors put the set away for the Cardinal.
Beginning the fourth set, Ohio State head coach Pete Hanson chose to replace junior outside hitter Reese Devilbiss with sophomore Kyle Skinner. The decision came after Devilbiss committed a team-high five errors and managed only a .095 hitting percentage through three sets.
In his one set of play, Skinner had two kills, one block assist, and a .250 hitting percentage.
After falling behind 14-8 in the fourth set, a few Stanford attack errors, decisive kills by Hanes and sophomore outside hitter Martin Lallemand and a Lallemand service ace set up the Buckeyes to a two-point deficit.
But three service errors by three different Buckeyes in the final seven points quashed any brewing comeback for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes will return to action at home on Friday against George Mason at 7 p.m. and then on Saturday against Erskine at 7 p.m.
