Ball State University
Loyola
Men?s Volleyball Drops Close Match To No. 11 Loyola
February 24, 2007 | Men's Volleyball
With the loss, the Cardinals fall to 8-6 overall and to 3-1 in Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association action. The Ramblers improve to 12-3 (4-2 MIVA) with the win.
“The hardest part of tonight's loss was dropping two games by just two points,” said head coach Joel Walton. “After last night's win, I really thought we needed to take the first game to have a chance tonight.”
Overall, four different Cardinals recorded double-figure kills in the contest, paced by Todd Chamberlain's (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) season-high 16 markers. Matt McCarthy (
Chamberlain would pace all players with a career-high 17 digs for his second double-double of the season. Rumschik would add 10 digs for his first double-double of the year, while Ian Peckler (
The Cardinals came extremely close to winning the first set, as the teams battled through 26 ties and 11 lead changes. With the game tied at 28, a kill from Loyola's Ian Anderson would give the Ramblers the first game point. McCarthy would follow with a kill of his own, only to commit a service error on the next play to give the Ramblers their second game point.
A block assist from
“Tonight's match was not pretty, with a lot of errors on both sides,” added Walton. “Loyola was just able to put together more runs and hurt us with short serves. Looking at the weekend as a whole, we made some defensive strides, but we are still lagging behind on offense.”
The second game was just as close as the first, with 18 ties and 11 overall lead changes. Once again, Loyola would have the first game point, at 29-27, only to see a kill from Ryan Clarke (
After a kill from Loyola's James Grunst gave the Ramblers their second game point, Chamberlain would tie the game with a kill of his own. A block assist from Clarke and Rumschik would give
The third set was the only one that did not go long, with the teams playing to a 13-13 tie before a four-point Loyola run put the visitors up for good.
The teams would battle through nine ties and two lead changes, only to play to a 24-24 tie in the fourth game. Back-to-back kills from the Ramblers would break the tie and help the visitors reach game-point at 29-26. However, the Cardinals would not go away, as kills from Rumschik, Chamberlain and McCarthy helped
Unfortunately, the Cardinals would not score again, as a Grunst kill and BSU attack error ended the game at 31-29 and the match at 3-1.
BSU's Jeff Schmitz (
Overall, the Cardinals would hold a 14-to-8.5 advantage in blocking, with McCarthy adding a team-best six total blocks. Meyer and Clarke would each tally four blocks, while Chamberlain, Schmitz and Willmann added three and Rumschik scored two.
Also factoring in the contest for the Cardinals were: Matt Sprague (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette H.S.) with a kill and two digs, Mark Termion (
Loyola's Grunst would pace all players with 17 kills, while
For the night, Loyola was able to out-hit the Cardinals .215 (70-33-172) to .196. The Ramblers also scored five aces to BSU's three.
The
