Ohio State got a much-needed victory Thursday as the No. 10 Buckeyes swept No. 12 Ball State in a match that kept them in the MIVA chase.
Fifth-ranked Grand Canyon also won in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball.
The Atlanta Vibe built on its first-place Pro Volleyball Federation lead with a sweep of the Orlando Valkyries.
There was also a Division I women’s hiring.
The PVF is off until Sunday, but Friday’s men’s slate is busy, especially in the smaller conferences.
Second-ranked Hawai’i is home for a Big West match with No. 18 CSUN.
The MPSF has No. 7 BYU at No. 8 Pepperdine and GCU back at Concordia Irvine, where it swept on Thursday.
Conference Carolinas as four matches, including league-leading Belmont Abbey (12-4, 7-1) playing at Mount Olive (13-6, 6-2). North Greenville (8-7, 6-2), tied with Mount Olive, goes to Barton (9-8. 4-4). Erskine (9-8, 5-3) tries to keep pace at King (4-15, 2-6) and Emmanuel (7-14, 2-6) goes to Lees-McRae (1-20, 0-8), which tries to break its 14-match skid.
The EIVA’s No. 17 George Mason plays host to independent Tusculum.
There are three NEC matches with Sacred Heart at Fairleigh Dickinson, Daeman at Saint Francis (PA) and Merrimack at LIU.
There are three SIAC matches with Benedict at Fort Valley State and Edward Waters set to play twice at Morehouse.
In the ECC, Dominican plays Wentworth, and among independents, Thomas More is at Missouri S&T.
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NCAA men
There were four matches Thursday, three in the MIVA.
Ball State’s lead was cut to one game in the loss column after the Cardinals (16-8, 9-2) lost to visiting Ohio State (16-7, 9-4). Ohio State, which had lost three in a row, including in four sets 11 days earlier at home to Ball State, hit .418. Shane Wetzel led with 13 kills, hit .455, and had an ace, four blocks and seven digs. Kyle Teune had 11 kills with one error in 14 attacks, an assist, an ace and three blocks, one solo. Ohio State was without injured leading attacker Jacob Pasteur.
Ball State, which hit .146, got 10 kills from Tinaishe Ndavazocheva …
No. 11 Loyola Chicago (15-8, 9-3) hit .559 and kept pace with a 25-15, 25-16, 25-16 victory at Quincy (5-14, 1-11). The Ramblers had 39 kills with six errors in 59 attacks. Parker Van Buren had 11 kills with no errors in 12 swings, an ace, a solo block and a…
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