Ball State University
George Mason
Men's Volleyball Falls at No. 15 George Mason
January 20, 2007 | Men's Volleyball
Meyer - - who is the first player to record 30 kills in a match since Jary Delgado tallied 31 at
Meyer also upped his career kills total to 1,030 and is seven kills shy of breaking the BSU's rally-scoring era record of 1,036 set by Delgado (2001-04).
In a continual effort to fine tune its young offense, the Cardinals turned to freshman Jeff Schmitz (
Despite the improved hitting numbers,
“We passed poorly tonight, which made it hard for our offense to function especially in the second and third games,” said head coach Joel Walton. “However, I feel we rebounded well and fought back towards the end of the fourth game. We just made to many errors in the beginning of the set to overcome in the end.”
In the opening game, the teams battled to a 6-6 tie, before a 5-1
The second stanza saw the teams play to another 6-6 tie before back-to-back George Mason points put the hosts up for good in the game. In reverse of the first game, it was the Cardinals cutting the lead to one-point at 15-14, before falling behind 21-16. The Patriots would on to win the game 30-21.
The third frame was close thought the first 17 points, with George Mason holding a 9-8 advantage after a kill from BSU's Justin Orr (
In the fourth and final game, the Cardinals would find themselves down by six points at the 19-13 mark, before kills from Meyer on three of the next four points sparked a 10-4 BSU run which tied the set at 23. Meyer would score five kills in the rally, while Matt McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South H.S.) added two and Doug Willmann (St. Louis, Mo./Francis Howell North H.S.) scored one.
The score would remain deadlocked at 26-26 before kills from GMU's Hudson Bates and William Price forced a BSU timeout. After the break, Meyer would collect his 30th kill of the night to get BSU within one at 28-27. A kill from Colton Naill would follow, giving the Patriots match-point at 29-27.
Willmann would answer with his seventh kill of the match, to give the Cardinals life at 29-28. However, a BSU service error would end the match at 30-28.
McCarthy would rank second on the team offensively in the match with nine kills, while Todd Chamberlain (
McCarthy would lead all Cardinals with five blocks in the match, while adding a team-best two service aces and two digs. Chamberlain would tally seven digs and three blocks on the night, while Willmann added five digs and one block.
BSU's Ian Peckler (
Schmitz, Orr and Matt Sprague (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette H.S.) would each tally two kills, while Mark Termion (
Two Patriots would score double-figure kills, with Price scoring 27 kills and Bates adding 17. Graham Sheppard logged a team-high eight digs for GMU.
Overall, the host Patriots held a .339 (63-20-127) to .287 hitting advantage in the match. BSU tallied a 40 to 35 edge in digs, while GMU logged 10.5 blocks to BSU's 9.5 and six aces to BSU's three.
The Cardinals will return to action Sunday afternoon, when they visit
