Ball State University Athletics
No. 12 Men's Volleyball Ends Two-Match Skid with 3-0 Win at Rutgers-Newark
March 04, 2006 | Men's Volleyball
Newark, N.J. - - Behind a season-high 26 kills from junior outside attacker Nick Meyer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller H.S.), the No. 12 Ball State men's volleyball team ended its two-match skid Saturday night with a 3-0 (30-26, 30-18, 30-27) victory at Rutgers-Newark. With the win, the Cardinals improve to 14-3, while the Scarlet Raiders drop to 6-10 with the loss.
In addition to his match-best 26 kills, Meyer collected eight digs, four block assists and a service ace in the win. Fellow junior outside attacker Patrick Durbin (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) also posted double-figure kills in the contest with 10, added to eight digs, three block assists and an assist.
One night after giving up a season-high .461 attack percentage to No. 15 George Mason, the Cardinals defense tightened up Saturday night, limiting Rutgers-Newark to a .183 (40-19-155) rate of success. BSU also posted double-figure blocks in the match, collecting 10.5 compared to five for the Scarlet Raiders. Both teams collected 48 digs.
Offensively, the Cardinals hit above the .300 mark for the second-straight night, finishing the contest with a .304 (55-17-125) attack percentage. Meyer paced all players on the night in the category with a .535 (
The Cardinals came out on fire in the opening set, as senior setter Dave Carlson (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids H.S.) served Ball State out to a 9-0 advantage. BSU would maintain its nine-point advantage at the 18-9 mark and remain up by six at 26-20. Rutgers-Newark would cut the gap to three points at the 29-26 mark before Meyer concluded the game with a kill at 30-26.
In the second game, the Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 advantage behind a pair of kills from Meyer that bookmarked a Carlson's third service ace of the night. BSU would take its first 10-point advantage of the frame at 23-13 on a block assist from Carlson and redshirt freshman middle attacker Matt McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South) before winning the game 30-18 on a kill from senior middle attacker Zoran Grabovac (Des Moines, Iowa/Hoover H.S.).
After Ball State held the lead for the entire first two games - - minus the start - - the third and final set saw 19 ties and eight total lead changes. The most important tie of the game came at the 20-20 mark when Rutgers-Newark's senior middle attacker Brian Honsberger knocked down his 1,000th career kill to knot the score. Honsberger would finish the match with eight kills, moving his career total to 1,001.
With the score tied at 26, a kill from BSU's Grabovac and a Honsberger error would give the Cardinals a two-point edge at 28-26. Honsberger would respond to the error with a kill before a service error and a Meyer kill ended the game at 30-27.
Sophomore libero Ian Peckler (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills H.S.) paced the Ball State defense with 13 digs in the victory.
Grabovac would finish the night with six kill for BSU, to go along with four block assists and two digs.
McCarthy paced all players with five total blocks in the match, to go along with five kills and two digs.
Senior outside attacker Evan Berg (Bristol, Wis./Central H.S.) added seven kills, nine digs, two block assists and one assist in the win, while Carlson paced all players with 51 assists and three service aces. Carlson also added four digs and a kill.
Also contributing in the win for the Cardinals were Mark Rumschik (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park H.S.) with one dig, Ted Summers-Torres (San Diego, Calif./University of San Diego H.S.) with one dig and Mark Termion (Winfield, Ill./Wheaton North H.S.).
Junior outside attacker Eric Honsberger's 22 kills paced the Scarlet Raiders, while Andrew Pick recorded a match-best 19 digs.
The Ball State men's volleyball team will take next weekend off before hosting the Milwaukee School of Engineering on March 17. The following night, the Cardinals will host No. 13 IPFW in a pivotal Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association match. Both matches start at
