Ball State University Athletics
No. 10 Men's Volleyball Remains Perfect with Win Over Clarke
February 04, 2006 | Men's Volleyball
In the victory, freshman outside attacker Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) smashed a career-best 18 kills despite playing in just two games. The freshman also posted career-highs of nine digs and a .467 (
In all, 14 Cardinals saw action in the contest, with Dave Carlson (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids H.S.), Matt McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South H.S.) and Mark Rumschik (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park H.S.) being the only BSU players to compete in all three games.
Carlson completed the match with three kills on four attempts, as well as a match-high 29 assists, five digs and two blocks. McCarthy tagged eight kills, four blocks and three digs, while Rumschik posted three digs, two kills and one block.
After playing to a 7-7 tie in the opening game, the Cardinals were able to capitalize on a kill from Evan Berg (Bristol, Wis./Central H.S.) and four-straight Clarke errors - - off Berg's serving - - and pull ahead 12-7. From there, Ball State would maintain at least a four-point edge the rest of the way, winning the set 30-23 on a kill from Patrick Durbin (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.).
After playing its Friday night starters in the opening set, Ball State went to the bench in the final two frames. The second set saw a lineup which featured Carlson, Chamberlain, Durbin, McCarthy, Rumschik and Doug Willmann (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South H.S), as well as Ted Summers-Torres (San Diego, Calif./University of San Diego H.S.) as the libero.
Clarke jumped out strong in the second game, taking a 3-0 advantage before pulling ahead by seven points at 17-10. After a BSU timeout, the teams traded the next two points, pushing the score to 18-11. After a Crusaders service error gave BSU control of the serve, the Cardinals would respond with six-more points for a 7-0 run to tie the game at 18.
Ball State would take its first lead of the set at 21-20 on a Clarke attack error before pulling ahead by five points at 27-22. A timeout by the hosts would help stop some of the Cardinals momentum and allow the Crusaders to draw within two points at 28-26. However, Chamberlain would follow with a kill to give BSU game point at 29-26, while a McCarthy kill one point later ended the stanza at 30-27.
The third game saw BSU reset the lineup again, this time starting Berg, Chamberlain, Ryan Clarke (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway South H.S.), McCarthy, Jim Shiel (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral H.S.) and Mark Termion (Winfield, Ill./Wheaton North H.S.), with Ian Peckler (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills H.S.) back at libero.
The host Crusaders would once again jump out to a 3-0 lead, only to see Ball State rally off the next four points to take a 4-3 lead. After playing to a 7-7 tie, BSU would score three of the next four points to pull ahead 11-8. The Cardinals would continue to hold the edge through the middle of the contest, going up by as many as six points at 23-17 after a Chamberlain solo block.
After the block, however, Clarke found its focus and managed an 8-2 run which would tie the game at 25 all. After the team's traded the next two points, BSU scored back-to-back kills to draw ahead 28-26. Clarke would respond by tying the game for a seventh time, before a kill and block assists from McCarthy - - along with Berg on the block - - ended the game at 30-28 and the match at 3-0.
Of the 14 BSU players who saw action in the game, 12 tallied at least one kill, including six from Durbin; four from Nick Meyer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller H.S.) and Zoran Grabovac (Des Moines, Iowa/Hoover H.S.); three from Clarke and Termion; two from Berg and Willmann; and one from Shiel.
Durbin would also score two blocks and a dig, while Meyer added two blocks, two digs and a service ace and Grabovac logged two blocks.
Berg, Clarke, Termion and Willmann would each tally a block assist in the match, with Berg posting a four digs, Willmann adding three and Clarke recording two.
In addition to his kill, Shiel would dish out 19 assists, while posting a pair of digs and a service ace.
Rounding out the stat lines were Summers-Torres with four digs and Peckler with three.
In all, the Cardinals out-hit Clarke .267 (56-24-120) to .157 (37-21-102) and out-blocked the Crusaders 10.5 to 9. BSU also held a 41 to 35 advantage in digs and a four to two edge in aces.
Erik Vogt paced the Crusaders with 14 kills in the match, while Pat McCarthy recorded a match-high 16 digs.
The Ball State men's volleyball team will return to action Tuesday after it picked up a road match at Central State. The contest is slated to begin at
