Men's Volleyball Earns Split in First Preseason Tune-up vs. IPFW

October 31, 2006 | Men's Volleyball

By: Ball State Athletics

Indianapolis, Ind. - - The Ball State men's volleyball team earned a split in last Saturday's preseason doubleheader versus IPFW at Sports of All Sorts in Indianapolis, scoring a 4-1 (30-28, 24-30, 30-23, 25-20, 25-20) victory in the five-game opener, while falling 0-3 (22-30, 34-36, 27-30) in the best-of-five nightcap.

"Overall, this past weekend's matches gave us a chance to play a lot of different players and experiment with several different lineups," said head coach Joel Walton. "I am very please with how our veteran players performed. I was also encouraged with how well our newcomers took to the court."

"I look for the remainder of our fall training and competition schedule to be an information gathering process, which will help us determine the rolls our players with fill for the upcoming season."

In Saturday's morning session, sophomore Matt McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South H.S.) and freshman Matt Sprague (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette H.S.) each tallied a team-high nine kills, while freshman Eric Schulte (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) added eight.

McCarthy would pace all BSU players with a .667 (9-1-12) attack percentage in the set, while Sprague ranked second on the squad at .333 (9-4-15). Sprague would tally a team-best 12 points in the match, including his nine kills, two blocks and an ace.

Overall, 10 players combined to record 56 kills for the Cardinals, including six each from senior Nick Meyer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller H.S.) and sophomore Mark Termion (Winfield, Ill./Wheaton North H.S.), five from sophomore Justin Orr (Gladstone, Mo./Winnetonka H.S.), four each from sophomores Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) and Ryan Clarke (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway South H.S.) three from junior Doug Willmann (St. Louis, Mo./Francis Howell North H.S.) and a pair from freshman Ben Irwin (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove H.S.).

Defensively, freshman Billy Ebel (Lenexa, Ka./Bishop Miege H.S.) paced the Cardinals' backcourt with 11 digs.

Meyer added seven digs to his statistical line, while Sprague tallied six and junior Ian Peckler (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills H.S.) and freshman Ethan Pheister (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) each scored five.

As a team, the Cardinals hit .158 (56-34-140), while logging 13 blocks and 50 digs in the morning session.

In the nightcap, Meyer would lead the BSU attack with 12 kills, while adding three blocks and six digs for 15 total points.

McCarthy and Schulte would rank second on the squad with seven kills each, while Chamberlain and Willmann each smashed six.

Orr collected four kills in the nightcap, while Sprague and Termion each tallied three. Jeff Schmitz (Fenton, Mo./St. John Vianney) smashed two kills for the Cardinals, while senior Mark Rumschik (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park H.S.) and Clarke each record a single kill.

Chamberlain would lead the team defensively with nine digs, while Schulte and Ebel each added seven. Peckler tallied six digs and Sprague finished the match with five.

As a team, Ball State hit marginally better in Saturday night's loss, finishing the match with a .313 (52-17-112) attack percentage. BSU also tallied 11 blocks and 41 digs in the evening session.

Ball State will compete in round two of its preseason slate Saturday when it heads to the Lewis Tournament in Romeoville, Ill.