Provo, Utah - No. 1 ranked UC Irvine defeated fourth-seeded Ohio State, (30-25, 30-25, 30-26) in a NCAA semifinal at Smith Fieldhouse Thursday.
 


Third-seeded USC defeated No. 2 Penn State, 3-1 to advance to the National Championship match to face the Anteaters Saturday (May 9) at 4:00 p.m. Pacific time.
 
"It was sure nice to get back on the court after our loss last week," head coach John Speraw said.  "We're going to have to block a lot better and execute to win the National Championship on Saturday."
 
Carson Clark led UC Irvine (26-5) with 12 kills and fired two aces. Senior outside hitter Taylor Wilson recorded 11 kills while sophomore outside hitter Jordan DuFault added 10 kills. Middle blocker Kevin Wynne hit .667 (8-0-12). Setter Ryan Ammerman dished 45 set assists and led the team with two blocks. Junior middle blocker Bryan Simmons came off the bench to record three kills.  Brent Asuka had a match-high 10 digs.
 
UCI, the nation's top blocking team, had just 4.0 blocks while Ohio State had 5.0. UCI hit .306 to OSU's .247.
 
Ohio State was paced by Robbie Klein with 13 kills.Steven Kehoe had 35 set assists.
 
With the score tied 16-16 in the first set, UCI used back-to-back kills by Ryan Ammerman and Carson Clark to take a 18-16 lead. The Anteaters opened a 26-21 lead on a pair of kills by Clark followed by a Buckeye attack error. Ohio State committed 10 service errors, the last one giving UCI the 30-25 victory. Ohio State out-hit UCI .381 to .333. Neither team had a block. Clark and Jordan DuFault each added four kills for the Anteaters.
 
Ohio State scored four straight to take an 9-5 lead in the second set. The Buckeyes continued to lead 10-8 before Ammerman won a joust at the net and then teamed with Austin D'Amore for a block to knot the score at 10-10.  With score tied at 12 all, the UCI block recorded a point then Ammerman fired an ace before Kevin Wynne put down a kill in the middle for a 17-12 Anteater lead. UCI would go on to take the set 30-25.
 
UCI jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set and continued to lead 20-15 before Ohio State went on a 6-1 run to tie the score at 21-21. A Buckeye service error was followed by two aces by Clark to put the Anteaters back on top 24-21. UCI would go on to win the set 30-26 and the match 3-0.