Ball State University Athletics
No. 14 Men's Volleyball Suffers Senior Night Setback to No. 10 Penn State
April 15, 2006 | Men's Volleyball
Muncie, Ind. - - Despite winning the first two games, the No. 14 Ball State men's volleyball team saw its five-match winning streak come to an end with a 3-2 (19-30, 26-30, 30-26, 30-28, 15-11) setback to No. 10 Penn State Saturday evening at Worthen Arena. With the loss, the Cardinals end the regular season with a 20-6 overall record, while the Nittany Lions improved to 18-8.
BSU's senior night started out on a positive note for BSU senior setter Dave Carlson (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids H.S.) as his first assist of the night - - and the 2,000th of his career - - gave Ball State a 2-1 lead in the opening set. From there, the Cardinals would cruise to a 30-19 game one win.
Carlson finished the match with 53 assists, moving his career total to 2,052. He is only the fifth player in school history to break the 2,000 assists mark. He also finished the contest with six kills, nine digs, three total blocks and a .625 attack percentage.
Also posting strong numbers in their last regular season match at Worthen Arena were Evan Berg (Bristol, Wis./Central H.S.) and Zoran Grabovac (Des Moines, Iowa/Hoover H.S.). Berg tallied 11 digs, eight kills, a service ace and a block assist; while Grabovac posted six blocks, four kills, two aces and a pair of assists.
After dominating the opening set - - including out-hitting Penn State .406 (
With the game tied at 19-19, BSU would rattle off the next three points, capped by a huge joust win from Carlson, to pull ahead 22-19. The Nittany Lions would answer by tying the game at 26-26, before a four-point BSU run ended the set. Meyer would provide the game winner with one of his season-high four service aces.
Penn State would jump out early in the third game (5-0) and never let BSU closer than four points, winning the frame 30-26.
Ball State would jump out to an early 7-2 advantage in the fourth game and maintain a five-point advantage at the 17-12 mark. Unfortunately, PSU would tie the score at 24-24 and follow with two more points to pull ahead 26-24. With BSU trailing 28-27, Penn State's Matt Proper would give the Nittany Lions game point at 29-27, with one of his team-high 21 kills, only to have a service error pull BSU back within one. Proper would then follow with the game-winner.
Penn State dominated the first five points of the fifth game, until Meyer tallied one of his match-high 25 kills to stop the run. BSU would score the next two points, moving the score to 5-3, only to have PSU answer with three-straight. After another kill from Meyer, Penn State would score the next six points to move ahead 11-4. The visitors would then cruise to a 15-11 victory.
In addition to his match-high 25 kills, Meyer added a match-best 14 digs, while scoring four aces, four blocks and two assists.
McCarthy finished the contest with seven blocks, six kills, three digs and a pair of helpers.
Patrick Durbin (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) also posted double-figure kill totals for BSU, with 11. He also scored four digs, three blocks and a service ace.
Rounding out BSU's contributors were Doug Willmann (St. Louis, Mo./Francis Howell North H.S.) with two kills and two digs; Ian Peckler (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills H.S.) with five digs and two assists; Mark Rumschik (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park H.S.) and Ted Summers-Torres (San Diego, Calif./University of San Diego H.S.).
Overall, the Cardinals held a
In addition to Proper's team-high 21 kills, four other Nittany Lions would record double-figure kills on the night, with Alex Gutor and Max Holt each scoring 18 and Kevin Walthall adding 13. Dan O'Dell would pace the team with 13 digs, while Walthall and Proper each tallied 11 and 10 digs, respectively, to finish the night with double-double.
The Cardinals will now have a week to prepare for the 2006 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tournament, as they host Mercyhurt in quarterfinal action next Saturday (April 22) at
