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Check out the initial breakdown and what to know for the upcoming NCAA Tournament finals between Ohio State and BYU.
No. 1 seed Ohio State (31-2, 16-0 MIVA) vs. No. 3 seed BYU (27-4, 16-2 MPSF)
Match vitals: 7 p.m. Saturday In Columbus, Ohio
Televised: ESPN2
Announcers: Paul Sunderland and Kevin Barnett
Last NCAA title: Ohio State (2016); BYU (2004)
Last NCAA finals appearance: Ohio State (2016); BYU (2016)
NCAA finals record: Ohio State (2-2); BYU (3-2)
NCAA Tournament appearances: Ohio State (20); BYU (8)
NCAA Tournament all-time record: Ohio State (13-22); BYU (11-4)
Season series: First meeting his season
Last meeting: Ohio State swept BYU in the 2016 NCAA Tournament finals
All-time series record: BYU leads 11-5
Ohio State 2017 national award recipients: Nicolas Szerszen (International Player of the Year, Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Server of the Year, Karch Kiraly Award finalist, First-Team All-American, MIVA Player of the Year); Miles Johnson (Bryan Ivie Award finalist, First-Team All-American); Christy Blough (Lloy Ball Award finalist, Second-Team All-American, Elite 90)
BYU 2017 national award recipients: Jake Langlois (Karch Kiraly Award finalist, First-Team All-American); Leo Durkin (Lloy Ball Award finalist); Ben Patch (Bryan Ivie Award finalist)
How they did in conference play: Ohio State went undefeated in the MIVA regular season and won the MIVA Tournament for the second straight year. It also rallied from a 7-2 fifth-game deficit to beat Ball State in the MIVA Tournament semifinals. BYU finished as the co-MPSF regular season championship — the fourth time in the last five years it earned a share of the title. In addition, BYU lost to Hawai’i in the MPSF Tournament semifinals.
How they reached NCAA finals: Ohio State as the No. 1 overall seed earned a bye to the semifinals and swept the No. 4 seed Hawai’i in the semifinals. BYU earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and swept Barton in the play-in match and the No. 2 seed Long Beach State in the semifinals