Jan. 25, 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Nationally-ranked Ohio State men's volleyball hosts the Ken and Dave Dunlap Invitational, Jan. 27-28, in St. John Arena. Joining the Buckeyes in the invite are three nationally-ranked teams in No. 4 Stanford, No. 8 Penn State and No. 12 Pacific.

DUNLAP INVITATIONAL BASICES
Schedule:
Friday, Jan. 27
Penn State (2-1) vs. Stanford (4-1) - 5 p.m. ET
Ohio State (5-3) vs. Pacific (3-3) - 7 p.m. ET

Saturday, Jan 28
Pacific vs. Penn State - 5 p.m. ET
Ohio State vs. Stanford - 7 p.m. ET

Live video/audio: OhioStateBuckeyes.com (Ohio State matches only)
Live stats: OhioStateBuckeyes.com (for all matches)
Twitter.com/OhioState_ MVB
Facebook.com/OhioStateMensVolleyball

SANGREY EARNS MIVA WEEKLY HONOR
Senior co-captain Shawn Sangrey was named Offensive Player of Week by the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, the league announced Monday. The honor is the first of the season for Sangrey and the ninth of his career. The opposite from Columbia, Pa., led the Buckeyes to a 3-0 record last week, blasting 48 kills for a 4.36 kills-per-set average. He also hit for a .292 (48-17-106) attack percentage, including a .611 (12-1-18) rate of success in two sets versus Sacred Heart last Tuesday. That mark is the highest hitting mark for a Buckeye this season. In the team's 3-1 win over St. Francis Sunday, Sangrey reached a major milestone in his career as a Buckeye. Entering the match with 998 career kills, he nabbed his 1000th in the first set and concluded the match with 1,014 career kills, ranking 13th all-time in Ohio State history. Sangrey totaled 20 kills in Ohio State's five-set win over George Mason Thursday, notching the highest total in a MIVA match last week and the second time this season he has posted 20-or-more kills in a match. He also hit .292 (20-6-48) in the contest. Sangrey currently leads the MIVA with a 4.17 kills-per-set average, while ranking sixth in digs per set at 1.72. Defensively, Sangrey led the Buckeyes in digs with 26 over 11 sets played for a 2.36 digs-per-set average. His 14-dig performance against St. Francis was the most recorded by a Buckeye this season and tied as the top performance in the league last week.

LAST TIME OUT: ST. FRANCIS
The Buckeyes improved to 5-3 on the season with a four-set win (25-20, 22-25, 25-18, 29-27) over St. Francis Sunday afternoon in St. John Arena. Senior Shawn Sangrey finished with a team-best 16 kills and added a match-high 14 digs with two service aces. Junior Grayson Overman totaled 10 kills on 18 attempts and had three blocks (2s, 1a). Junior Chen Levitan had nine kills and two service aces, while senior Mik Berzins finished with eight kills and 11 digs. Redshirt freshman Peter Heinen handed out a match-high 43 assists.

IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
The Buckeyes are the 10th-ranked team in the country, according to the AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll and are No. 9 by the Volleyball Magazine Men's Division I-II Top 10 Poll. Two other schools from the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association are ranked in the AVCA poll in Lewis (seventh) and Loyola-Chicago (14th).

PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
Eighth-ranked Penn State enters the weekend with a 2-1 overall mark. After opening the season in Columbus with a 3-0 win over the Buckeyes, Jan. 14, the Nittany Lions traveled to MIVA opponents Loyola-Chicago and Lewis. PSU picked up a three-set win at Loyola, but followed with a 3-1 loss to Lewis.

STANFORD CARDINAL
No. 4 Stanford comes to Columbus with a 4-1 record, including three wins over nationally-ranked teams. The Cardinal opened the season with three-straight wins over Pacific, Juniata and Loyola-Chicago. The team suffered its first loss last weekend, dropping a three-set match to No. 3 UCLA. The Cardinal rebounded with a 3-1 win over UC Santa Barbara, Jan. 21.

PACIFIC TIGERS
Twelfth-ranked Pacific stands at 3-3 on the season entering the weekend. The Tigers opened with back-to-back 3-0 wins over MIVA opponent Grand Canyon and followed with a pair of three-set losses to Stanford and Loyola-Chicago. Pacific earned its first win in conference play, topping UC Santa Barbara in four before losing to UCLA, 3-0.

MIVA RANKINGS
Ohio State was picked to finish second in the MIVA by a vote of the league coaches. Edging out the Buckeyes in first were the Ramblers from Loyola-Chicago, finishing with four first-place votes to Ohio State's three. Lewis was picked to finish third, with Ball State and Quincy tied for fourth. IPFW was ranked sixth and Grand Canyon rounded out the voting in seventh. The coaches also selected the 2012 MIVA preseason All-Conference Team comprised of nine player and two liberos. Making the squad from Ohio State were seniors Mik Berzins (OH) and Shawn Sangrey (OPP).

UP NEXT
Ohio State travels to University Park, Pa., for a tournament held by Penn State, Feb. 3-4. The Buckeyes open with a 5 p.m. ET match vs. Cal-Baptist Friday and follow with a 5 p.m. match vs. Mount Olive Saturday.