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State College, Pa. • Brigham Young University's men's volleyball team learned a couple of things on Saturday night at Rec Hall on the campus of Penn State University.
First, the Cougars really hate the color silver.
Second, they will have to figure out how to handle serves better if they meet Ohio State in next year's national championships, which happen to be in Columbus.
In Saturday's final, the third-seeded Buckeyes overcame seven set points to take the first set and cruised from there — with one small hiccup in the second — to down No. 1 seed BYU 3-0 and claim their second championship in six years.
The scores were 32-30, 25-23 and 25-17 as BYU fell to 27-4 and saw its quest to give the school its first national championship since 2004 fall short. Ohio State, which took the title in 2011, improved to 31-2 and proved on this night it was the nation's best volleyball team, even if it played in a so-called inferior league, the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.
"Hats off to Ohio State. They put together a remarkable season," said BYU coach Shawn Olmstead. "They were absolutely the better team tonight."
BYU is 3-3 in national championship men's volleyball matches, having won titles in 1999, 2001 and 2004 and lost finals in 2003, 2013 and 2016. With Michael Hatch the only senior who plays regularly, the Cougars could be back. Then again, fellow semifinalists Ohio State, UCLA and Long Beach State also return all their stars.
"Honestly, I hope the guys are still hungry," said BYU setter Leo Durkin, a sophomore. "I have never hated the color silver so much in my entire life than I do now. And I am just ready to get back in the gym. So, I hope the guys are the same way."
In front of a pro-BYU crowd — despite Columbus being only a five-hour drive from State College — the Cougars lost because they could not sufficiently handle Ohio State's powerful service game. The Buckeyes (31-2) had eight service aces and kept BYU out of system with other crisp, explosive serves that left the Cougars scrambling to find any rhythm offensively.
"That's been our bread and butter all year long," said Ohio State coach Pete Hanson. "We didn't believe there was a team out there that could handle our service game."
He was right.
In the third set, the Cougars wilted under the constant serving pressure applied by National Player of the Year Nicolas Szerszen and his cohorts.
"Our serves led that set the whole way," said middle blocker Driss Guessous.
The Buckeyes reeled off six straight points early in the third set, and there would be no BYU comeback on this night.
The Cougars hit .296, while OSU hit .374 and neutralized BYU's star, Ben Patch, who hit .091 and wasn't himself, completely whiffing on one particular attack. Coincidentally, Patch also hit .091 in the 2013 championship game loss to UC Irvine when BYU was swept 3-0.
"When you look at the stats, it came down to serve and pass," Olmstead said. "When you are off the net and chasing the ball down all the time, defensively he is going to have a lot of guys waiting for him [at the net]."
When the Cougars look back at this one, they will rue the first set when they led throughout, but couldn't capitalize on seven — yes seven — set points.
Olmstead and Brenden Sander, who led BYU with 14 kills, noted in the postgame news conference that the Cougars have dropped opening sets before and rallied to win, but this setback was especially devastating, it seemed.
"They had a few good serves at the end that we didn't get," Sander said. "I don't know what happened. I guess we just couldn't handle the ball that well."
Olmstead pointed to the second set, when BYU led 19-16 and 20-17, as proof that the Cougars got past the first-set loss emotionally.
"I don't feel like the [first set] had any lasting impact on our team," he said.
Some controversy arose in the second set when it appeared BYU had scored to go up 21-18. However, officials ruled that a BYU fan interfered with the ball when OSU's Miles Johnson was attempting to keep it alive, and the point was played over. The Buckeyes promptly scored four of the next five points and took the set, 25-23.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Storylines
R The Buckeyes overcome seven set points to win the first set and cruise from there to win their second national title.
• The Cougars are swept for the second time this season.
• Tournament MVP Miles Johnson leads OSU with 15 kills.