The men’s volleyball team will open a five-match homestand on Friday, hosting Ohio State at 7 p.m. at the Stokes Center. 

The squad got off to a great start this season, coming from behind in its first match to defeat Stanford here in Loretto. The Cardinal is currently ranked ninth in the country in the NCAA Coaches Poll. 

Head coach Mike Rumbaugh’s team enters the homestand 2-4 after splitting a pair of road matches last weekend.

 “I think we have potential,” said redshirt sophomore Josh Blair. “Coach has tried to express (the importance of) hard work and scrappy plays.”

The game against Ohio State is the second meeting between the two teams this season. The Flash lost to the Buckeyes, 3-0, in Columbus, Ohio, on Jan. 9.

Following the OSU match, SFU will host Ball State (Feb. 1), St. Francis-Brooklyn (Feb. 8), NJIT (Feb. 14) and Princeton (Feb. 15), before heading to Massachusetts to face Harvard (Feb. 21). 

In the Red Flash’s last match, they were defeated by Lincoln Memorial, 3-2. Redshirt senior Michael Fisher had 17 kills, two aces and three blocks in the match.