Ohio State Advances to First Regional Final Since 2004 – Ohio State Buckeyes

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AUSTIN, Texas – The No. 3 seeded Ohio State Buckeyes (22-9, 15-5 B1G) beat No. 2 seeded Minnesota (22-9, 15-5 B1G) in four sets (22-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-19) in the NCAA regional semifinals on Thursday to advance to the program’s first regional final since 2004.

Minnesota took a back-and-forth first set by a 25-22 margin. Ohio State evened the match at one set apiece with a 25-21 win in the second set by scoring eight of the final 11 points. Each team had an early run in the third set, but Ohio State earned the 25-21 set win by leading the latter part of the set. The Buckeyes took the lead early in the fourth set and held off the Gophers’ late push to win the set by a 25-19 margin.

How it Happened

Emily Londot opened the match with a kill, but Minnesota took its first lead at 2-1. After being tied at nine, Minnesota used a 5-1 run to take a 14-10 lead. Ohio State responded with three-unanswered points and trailed 15-13 at the media timeout. The Gophers scored out of the media timeout to stretch the lead to 17-13 and force a Buckeye timeout. OSU scored the next three, including back-to-back kills from Londot, to prompt a Minnesota timeout. Ohio State tied the set at 19 and 20 before calling timeout down 22-20. The Buckeyes tied the set again at 22, forcing a second Gophers timeout, but Minnesota earned the 25-22 set win.

Minnesota scored first in the second set and built an early 6-2 lead to force an Ohio State timeout. The Buckeyes took their first lead of the set at 9-7 following a 4-0 run. The Gophers used a 4-0 run of their own to lead 11-9. The teams were tied at 11, 12 and 13 before Minnesota took a 15-13 lead. Ohio State used three-consecutive points to take a 17-16 lead and another 3-0 run to go up 20-18, forcing a Gophers timeout. The Buckeyes scored two more points out of the timeout and sealed a 25-21 set win to even the match.

The Gophers opened scoring in the third set and led 4-2 before the Buckeyes got their first lead of the set at 5-4. The teams traded three-point runs to tie the set again at eight, but Minnesota extended its run to five-unanswered to force an OSU timeout trailing 10-8. The set was tied at points 10 through 15 before a 3-0 OSU run gave the Buckeyes a 17-15 lead, forcing a Minnesota timeout. Ohio State scored three-unanswered points again to extend the lead to 22-17 and prompt another Gophers timeout. Minnesota got within two out of the timeout, but a block from Mac…