![\"Then-freshman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_1662.jpeg\")
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Then-freshman outside hitter Stanislaw Chacinski jumps up to hit the ball against Ball State in the Covelli Center April 19, 2025. Credit: Jay LaPrete via Ohio State Athletics<\/p>\n
The defending national champions had yet to stumble since they hoisted the championship trophy in the Covelli Center back in May.<\/p>\n
That changed Saturday, when No. 13 Ohio State delivered No. 2 Long Beach State its first set loss of the season.<\/p>\n
It looked like the Buckeyes would hand Long Beach its first match loss since April.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Buckeyes fell in four sets against the Beach, dropping to 3-1 on the young season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt stings because we know that we were right there, but I think it\u2019s important that we don\u2019t lose sight of the fact of what we did accomplish and that we showed what we could do,\u201d Burch said.<\/p>\n
Wetzel finished with a team-high 14 kills, moving into 13th place on Ohio State\u2019s all-time kills list. Middle blocker Aaron Grimm added six kills on seven swings for an .857 hitting percentage.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo finally get out there and be able to prove that we\u2019re able to hang with the best, it\u2019s really motivating,\u201d Grimm said.<\/p>\n
Momentum shifted early in the second set when Daniel Hurley exited the match with an injury. Long Beach State adjusted its blocking, limiting Ohio State\u2019s options and keying in on Wetzel and Stanislaw Chacinski.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Dan went down, they were just shifting their whole block away from Owen [Pickering], who went in for him],\u201d Burch said. \u201cThey basically had half the court they had to block, so they took full advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Beach won the second and third sets 25-18 before pulling away late in the fourth. A reversed call helped seal the final set, 25-20, giving Long Beach State the four-set victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you play a team like that, they\u2019re going to expose you,\u201d Burch said. \u201cAnd you\u2019re going to learn a lot from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skyler Varga led Long Beach State with 14 kills and five blocks, while setter Jake Pazanti recorded 42 assists as three Beach players reached double figures in kills.<\/p>\n
Despite the loss, Burch said the performance showed Ohio State\u2019s growth early in the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were as focused and dialed in on the scouting report as I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d Burch said. \u201cThat shows a lot of belief in what they can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ohio State\u2019s loss was its first since the MIVA Championship match against Loyola Chicago last April, but the Buckeyes believe the experience will pay off later in the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a really good record late in seasons the last three years,\u201d Burch said. \u201cA lot of that comes from learning from games like this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Then-freshman outside hitter Stanislaw Chacinski jumps up to hit the ball against Ball State in the Covelli Center…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[70614,21866,70607,41446,70617,70620,70616,70612,131,133,132,70608,70609,70611,70610,70605,70606,70618,70613,70615,70619],"class_list":{"0":"post-139440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-aaron-grimm","9":"tag-beach-volleyball","10":"tag-buckeyes-volleyball","11":"tag-college-volleyball","12":"tag-covelli-center","13":"tag-defending-national-champions","14":"tag-jake-pazanti","15":"tag-kevin-burch","16":"tag-long-beach","17":"tag-long-beach-headlines","18":"tag-long-beach-news","19":"tag-long-beach-state-mens-volleyball","20":"tag-long-beach-state-volleyball","21":"tag-miva-volleyball","22":"tag-ncaa-mens-volleyball","23":"tag-ohio-state-mens-volleyball","24":"tag-ohio-state-volleyball","25":"tag-ohio-state-vs-long-beach-state","26":"tag-shane-wetzel","27":"tag-skyler-varga","28":"tag-top-25-mens-volleyball"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}