Ohio St. stuns No. 1 UCLA with reverse NCAA men’s volleyball sweep

AUSTIN, Texas — UCLA, you might say, got Pasteur-ized.

That’s because Jacob Pasteur, Ohio State’s superstar senior outside, had six of his 23 kills in the fifth set of the fourth-ranked Buckeyes’ improbable reverse sweep of previously unbeaten and No. 1 UCLA.

“Unbelievable,” Pasteur said. “It’s just a testament to the toughness of our team.”

Pasteur capped the victory with a back-row attack that lifted the 5-0 Buckeyes to a 19-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 15-13 victory and dropped UCLA, which had won 16 in a row — including the 2023 NCAA title — to 4-1.

Saturday in the Austin Convention Center as the First Point Collegiate Challenge continues, Ohio State plays USC at 1:30 Central, Stanford plays Ball State at 4 and UCLA plays Penn State at 6:30.

There was no doubt who Ohio State setter Michael Wright was going to on the last play.

“I was making sure I was ready for that ball,” said Pasteur, the product of Westminster, Maryland, who had five errors in 36 attacks to hit .500 and had three assists, two aces, seven digs and two blocks.

“There were a lot of unforced errors I’d like to cut out, but definitely I was pleased with my performance tonight,” Pasteur said.

His coach, Kevin Burch, made sure to emphasize that Pasteur is more than just a tremendous offensive weapon.

“He’s our best passer and was second in digs per set last year in our conference,” Burch said. “As an outside, that’s incredible. He’s one of the best back-row players in the conference, maybe one of the best in the country, his serving has gotten better, and his leadership has gone to the next level. There are a lot of things about him that make him extra special and it’s important for people to know that, as well.”

Ohio State of the MIVA, which hit .305, had five aces and 23 serving errors. Shane Wetzel had 13 kills, an assist, three blocks and three digs. Ben Putnam had eight kills, two assists, no aces but five errors, two blocks and eight digs. Burch noted that Putnam’s defense was a big key to the comeback.

Cole Young had eight kills, hit .462, and had an ace and five blocks. Wright, the senior setter, had a kill, 46 assists, two aces, five digs and seven blocks, one solo.

“I’m proud of our guys in that they were tough the entire match,” Burch said. “They could have curled in a ball in the corner after that second set, especially after we had the lead and gave it up. But two years ago, we had a lot of matches like that, where we gave up a lot of leads and last year they learned how to win.”

Indeed, in 2022 Ohio State finished 13-14. Last year, the Buckeyes went 23-10, which included winning the MIVA tournament. Ohio State beat King in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Penn State in the quarterfinals.

Friday in the Austin Convention Center, the Buckeyes were up 18-12 in the second set — in which Pasteur had seven kills — and looking at 1-1 tie before UCLA stormed back. Champlin had seven of his kills and Robinson six in the second set.

UCLA of the MPSF hit .366 and had four aces and a whopping 30 serving errors. Ethan Champlin had 18 kills, three assists, an ace, three blocks and four digs. Cooper Robinson had 11 kills, hit .364, and had two assists, no aces but six errors, two digs and five blocks, one solo. Ido David had seven kills, no aces and five errors, and two digs. Merrick McHenry was held to five kills in eight errorless swings and had an assist, an ace and six errors, and four blocks to go with a dig. Guy Genis had six kills in 11 errorless attacks, two assists, two digs and five blocks, one solo. Setter Andrew Rowan had three kills in as many tries, 46 assists, two aces and seven digs.

Pasteur is good friends with a lot of the Bruins, including McHenry, Champlin, and Alex Knight, who only played one set as he battles injuries. Knight had three kills in five errorless attempts.

“It’s always a blast competing against rivals and peers,” Pasteur said. 

He also has a special relationship with UCLA’s John Speraw, coach of the USA national team.

“We caught up a little before the match and it’s always a pleasure to compete against him,” Pasteur said. “He’s alway been a great coach for me and has offered me a lot of wisdom on and off the court. I’m blessed to have him as a coach over the summer and was glad to see him.”

Speraw, while happy to see Pasteur, had other things on his mind after the match.

“There were some aspects of our serve-pass game that I was pleased with and then other things that showed me we have some room to improve,” Speraw said. “Taking some lessons from that is really important.”

And those serving errors?

“People ask me a lot about the service-error issue in men’s volleyball. Tonight was not good,” Speraw said. “The type of errors that we had, those are not what we’re looking for. There’s a type of error, a type of aggressiveness that comes with it that we’re looking for. We didn’t see that tonight. We didn’t have a very good service game tonight.”

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