No. 15 Men?s Volleyball Slips Past Carthage

KENOSHA, Wis. - - After winning the first two games, the No. 15 Ball State men's volleyball team survived a late Carthage rally to score a 3-1 (30-25, 30-25, 25-30, 33-31) victory over the Red Men Saturday evening at the Carthage Physical Education Building.

With the win, the Cardinals improve to 10-6 on the year, while the Red Men fall to 12-7 with the loss.

“Todd did a great job leading us tonight even though he was not feeling very well,” said head coach Joel Walton. “Matt McCarthy also turned in a great performance both on offense and on defense. However, our offense as a whole continued to struggle. We need to get it corrected before our match at Ohio State.”

For the third-straight match, four Cardinals collected double-digit kills, with Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) pacing the way with a team-best 16.

Mark Rumschik (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park H.S.) continued his solid all-around play, turning in his third-straight career double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs

Nick Meyer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller H.S.) added 15 kills in the win, while Matt McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South H.S.) tagged 13 kills.

McCarthy also finished the night with a match-best .619 (13-0-21) attack percentage and a career-high nine total blocks (three solo and six assists), as the Cardinals logged a season-high 20.5 team blocks.

Ian Peckler (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills H.S.) would add 11 digs in the win.

With the score knotted at 20 in the opening game, Rumschik smashed back-to-back kills, while McCarthy followed with a marker of his own to give Ball State a 23-20 advantage. The Red Men climbed back within one point at 25-24, only to see the Cardinals rally off five of the final six points to win the game 30-25.

Meyer scored back-to-back kills to open the second game, putting Ball State ahead for good in the set. BSU's largest lead of the game came at 25-17, when Ryan Clarke (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway South H.S.) scored one of his three solo blocks of the evening. The Cardinals went on to win the game 30-25 on a McCarthy kill.

In the third frame, the teams would play to a 13-13 tie before a pair of BSU attack errors sparked a 5-0 Carthage run that put the hosts ahead 18-13. After building a seven-point edge at 25-18, the Red Men went on to win the game 30-25.

Ball State built a seven-point advantage at the 17-10 mark of the fourth game, only to see an 11-3 Carthage run give the host a one-point edge at 21-20. From there, the teams battled to a 31-31 tie before kills from Meyer and Rumschik ended the game at 33-31 and the match at 3-1.

Jeff Schmitz (Fenton, Mo./St. John Vainney) handed out 47 assists, while leading the BSU offense to a .238 (62-27-147) attack percentage.

Clarke finished the contest with seven blocks, while BSU's Wisconsin natives Ethan Pheister (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) and Eric Schulte (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) also saw action in the match. Schulte logged one kill, while Pheister added four assists, including one on Rumschik's match-winning kill.

Also factoring in the victory for Ball State were Billy Ebel (Lenexa, Ka./Bishop Miege H.S.) with a dig and Doug Willmann (St. Louis, Mo./Francis Howell North H.S.) with a block assist.

Shane Olson paced the Carthage attack with a match-high 17 kills, while Rob Koehler scored 12 kills. Allen Russo and Matt Ulmer collected double-figure digs for the Red Men with 13 and 12, respectively.

For the match, the Cardinals used a dominating block to limit Carthage to a .128 (59-40-149) attack percentage. BSU held a 20.5 to 11.5 advantage in blocks in the match, as well as a 7 to 6 edge in aces. The Red Men out-dug the Cardinals 49 to 41.

The Ball State men's volleyball team returns to action Friday, when it travels to Columbus, Ohio, for a 7 p.m. showdown with No. 7 Ohio State.

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Players Mentioned

Todd Chamberlain

Ryan Clarke

Billy Ebel

Matt McCarthy

Nick Meyer

Ian Peckler

Ethan Pheister

Mark Rumschik

Jeff Schmitz

Eric Schulte