UCSB’s incredible run to the NCAA men’s volleyball national championship match ended in the same place as it did for four other Gaucho teams — second place.
The Gauchos didn’t have an answer for Ohio State lefty Shawn Sangrey and were beaten by the Buckeyes in five sets at Penn State’s Recreation Hall on Saturday. Sangrey blasted a career-high 30 kills to lead Ohio State to a 20-25, 25-20, 25-19, 22-25, 15-9 victory.
It’s the first NCAA championship for Ohio State. UCSB is 0-5 in NCAA finals.
“We didn’t make the stops when we needed them,” senior outside hitter Cullen Irons said. “We played a good match and unfortunately we came out a little short. Ohio State, they played awesome. They were digging everything. They got a lot of blocks. Shawn Sangrey, we didn’t have an answer.”
Ohio State (26-6) won despite committing 26 service errors. But Sangrey pulled the Buckeyes through with a monster performance. The Gauchos couldn’t figure out how to block the southpaw, who frustrated them all night with hard angle spikes and tools off the block.
“That’s obviously a stat that isn’t in our favor, for sure,” Ohio State coach Pete Hanson said. “But when you out-kill a team 74-45 you make up for it with your attacking. A lot of that credit goes to the three guys that pass the ball, and then our setter Steve [Kehoe] and then on to our young guy from Pennsylvania [Sangrey]. I think I’m going to schedule half of our games next year in this state, so he can feel like he’s at home and play like that every night. We had some great performances to overcome the serving, and that was huge for us.”
Sangrey and Kehoe made huge plays that turned the fifth set around for the Buckeyes. With the score at 10-9, UCSB’s Todd Travis came in and served a tough floater that was shanked. Ohio State setter Kehoe raced toward the sideline and managed to bump the ball back onto the court while crashing into the scorer’s table. The rally continued until Sangrey put the ball away for an 11-9 lead.
On the next play, Jeff Menzel went under the net to put the Buckeyes ahead 12-9 and Sangrey followed with two more kills and a block of Menzel to end the match.
“He played great and the numbers show it,” said senior Scott Slaughter of Sangrey.
The Buckeyes made it a tough night for Menzel. The Gaucho All-American was held to 12 kills on 40 swings and he hit .025.
“They made the right moves at the right times,” said Slaughter.
Irons led the UCSB attack with 16 kills. The Gauchos hit. 198 as a team and Ohio State hit .329. The Buckeyes got 15 kills from John Klanac, 12 from Grayson Overman and 10 from Jason Tobkin.
“I think part of it became our serving,” Hanson said. “We got them out of their system, and I think when (Menzel) gets a higher ball and we can get guys in front of him, we can be effective. He is going to hit the block hard and we’ve taught our guys to do that in our gym as well. As blockers, we know that if we can get a touch, we have some people that can transition the ball. He’s really good one-on-one, but we didn’t allow him any one-on-one opportunities.”
Down 2-1 in sets, the Gauchos put together a solid fourth set. They got some big hits from Cullen Irons, and Scott Slaughter and Vince Devany came up with a key block to give them a 20-17 lead. Dylan Davis came up with huge block and Jeff Menzel killed the final point for a 25-22 win.
UCSB coach Rick McLaughlin felt the win gave his team a boost, but noted that in a deciding fifth set, things can go either way.
“It’s anybody’s game in the fifth game, anybody’s match,” he said. “Ohio State served the ball well in the last game and they blocked the ball. They did a real good job blocking. They took care of the big plays. They deserve it.”
The Gauchos (18-15) experienced an amazing post-season run. They won at BYU and beat Long Beach State and No. 1-ranked USC to win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament and earned an automatic NCAA Final Four berth.
In the national semifinals, they dispatched USC again in four games to reach their first NCAA final since 1988.
“I’m extremely proud of my team and all the seniors, especially, for having a great year,” McLaughlin said. “It was just an incredible effort by them. It started three years ago and they just gave it everything they had and just came up a little short. But man, what a career for these guys.”
