Ball State University Athletics
No. 10 Men's Volleyball Upset by No. 12 Ohio State
February 25, 2006 | Men's Volleyball
Muncie, Ind. - - The No. 10 Ball State men's volleyball team suffered a 0-3 (29-31, 22-30, 28-30) setback to No. 12 Ohio State Saturday night at Worthen Arena. With the loss, BSU falls to 13-2 (4-2 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association), while OSU improves to 12-4 (2-2 MIVA).
Despite a match-high 14 kills and a team-best .320 (
The Cardinals did manage to hold the overall edge in kills on the night, with 48 compared to the Buckeyes 41. In addition to Durbin's 14, Nick Meyer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller H.S.) tallied nine, Zoran Grabovac (Des Moines, Iowa/Hoover H.S.) collected eight and Evan Berg (Bristol, Wis./Central H.S.) posted seven.
Both teams came out ready to battle in the opening set which saw 19 ties and nine lead changes. The Buckeyes would claim the largest advantage of the marker at 7-4, only to have BSU tie the game at 10-10. The Cardinals first advantage of the opening set would come on a Matt McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South H.S.) kill at the 14-13 mark.
After falling behind 21-19, Ball State would record the next four points to pull to its first of three two-point advantages at 23-21. BSU would continue to hold the lead at 27-25 before a three-point Buckeyes' run gave the visitors a 28-27 advantage. McCarthy would tie the game at 28 for BSU, while the teams traded the next to points, putting the score at 29-29. OSU followed by posting the next two points to win the game 31-29.
In the second stanza, the teams played to a 10-10 tie before an OSU ace from John Albertson gave the Buckeyes an edge they would not relinquish the rest of the set. Ohio State would go on to win the game 30-22.
The Buckeyes looked poised to end the third game quickly, as they jumped to a 6-1 advantage and pulled ahead by as many as eight points at 19-11. OSU continued to hold a six-point advantage at the 25-19 mark before an 8-3 BSU run cut the gap to one point at 28-27.
After an Ohio State timeout, the Buckeyes would score the next point on a kill from Robbie Klein before Berg drew the Cardinals within one again at 29-28. Unfortunately, Klein would hit his next attempt of the BSU block to give OSU the game at 30-28 and the match at 3-0.
In addition to his match-high 14 kills, Durbin would score five digs and two assists for the Cardinals. Berg would pace the Cardinals with 10 digs, while adding a block.
Meyer finished the contest with seven digs, two blocks and an assist, while Grabovac scored three blocks and three digs.
McCarthy collected five total kills in the match, to go along with two block assists and one of the team's two service aces.
Dave Carlson (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids H.S.) added BSU's other ace, while scoring a match-high 42 assists and tying for team-high honors with three total blocks. He also collected a kill and five digs.
Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) ended the match with four kills and two digs, while Ian Peckler (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills H.S.) ranked second on the team with nine digs.
Also seeing time in the match for the Cardinals were Mark Termion (Winfield, Ill./Wheaton North H.S.), Ted Summers-Torres (San Diego, Calif./University of San Diego H.S.) and Mark Rumschik (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park H.S.).
In addition to being out-hit .213 (41-18-108) to .103, Ohio State topped the Cardinals at the net, scoring 13 blocks to BSU's six. Ball State did manage to hold a 41-39 edge in digs.
Klein would finish the night with a team-high 12 kills for Ohio State, while Stuart Katz scored a match-high 11 digs.
The Ball State men's volleyball team will return to the road this weekend with matches at No. 14 George Mason (Friday) and Rutgers-Newark (Saturday). Both contests are
