Ball State University
Lewis
No. 13 Men?s Volleyball Downs Lewis To Advance In MIVA Tournament
April 22, 2007 | Men's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - The No. 13 Ball State men's volleyball team advance to the semifinals of the 2007 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tournament with a 3-0 (30-26, 30-27, 30-26) victory over Lewis in quarterfinal action Saturday night at Worthen Arena.
The Cardinals, who improve to 18-11 on the year, will face the tournament's top seed and host No. 6 Ohio State in the second semifinal match next Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
The first semifinal match features No. 10 IPFW versus No. 11 Loyola and will start at 5 p.m. at OSU's St. John Arena.
In tonight's win, the Cardinals finished the match with a .226 (46-20-115) attack percentage, while limiting the Flyer offense to a .180 (44-24-111) rate of success.
BSU sophomore Matt McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South H.S.) paced all players with a .588 attack percentage, logging 11 kills on 17 swings with just one error. He also collected a career-high six digs, including three digs late in the third game to help guide BSU to the sweep, while pacing the BSU defense with five total blocks.
Senior Nick Meyer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller H.S.) led all players with 19 kills in his final match at Worthen Arena. He also logged BSU's only two aces, while adding five digs and three total blocks.
“Overall, I would have liked to see our team play a little better,” said BSU head coach Joel Walton. “However when it got close to the end of games, we were able to make some key plays. I was proud of the way our guys hung in and were able to make clutch plays at pivotal times.”
Looking forward to Thursday, if we are going to beat Ohio State, it is going to take a total team effort. Everyone is going to have to come out and make plays.”
In the opening game, the teams played to a 4-4 tie before kills from McCarthy and Meyer helped spark a 12-7 BSU run to give the hosts a 16-11 advantage. Lewis was able to cut the gap to two points at 23-21, only to see a Meyer kill and a McCarthy solo block push the edge back up to four.
With the Cardinals leading 27-24, back-to-back solo blocks from Meyer and Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) gave BSU game point at 29-24. After a pair of Ball State miscues, Meyer smashed the game-winning kill, at 30-26, giving him eight for the opening set.
The second game saw the teams battle to an 11-11 tie before kills from Lewis' Drew Pickering and Jared Dayton sparked a 4-0 Flyers run. The guest from Romeoville, Ill., maintained its four-point lead at the 20-16 mark forcing Ball State to call its second time out of the set.
Out of the break, Meyer smashed a kill to bring the Cardinals back to life, as they rallied off eight of the next nine points to pull ahead 24-21. Senior Mark Rumschik (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park H.S.) collected a pair of kills in the rally, as did Meyer. The lead was short-lived, however, as the Flyers tied the game at 25-25.
With the score deadlocked at 27-27, a Lewis' service error followed by another Meyer kill gave BSU game point. The Cardinals' did not disappoint the BSU faithful, as Meyer and Ryan Clarke (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway South H.S.) combined for a game-winning block assist.
The Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the third game, only to play to a 14-14 tie. Lewis followed with three-straight points and played to a 19-16 advantage. However, a Lewis attack error and a block assist from BSU's McCarthy and Rumschik sparked a 6-1 Cardinals' run to give the hosts a 22-20 lead.
After a Flyers' block assist tied the game at 24-24, McCarthy logged his 11th and final kill of the match, while adding a pair of huge digs to help BSU rally off the next three points, pushing the score to 28-24.
A Lewis service error would give BSU match-point at 29-25, while Mark Termion (Winfield, Ill./Wheaton North H.S.) smashed his second-straight match-winning kill at 30-26.
Freshman setter Ethan Pheister (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) picked up his third-straight start in the contest, handing out a match-high 39 assists, while tying a career-high with eight digs.
Junior libero Ian Peckler (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills H.S.) paced the BSU backcourt with nine digs, while freshman serving specialist Billy Ebel (Lenexa, Ka./Bishop Miege H.S.) also saw action in the victory.
Rumschik finished the final home match of his career with six kills, three digs and a block assist.
While Ball State held the offensive edge in the match, Lewis logged a 43-to-39 edge in digs, a 10.5-to-9 lead in team blocks and a 3-to-2 advantage in aces.
For Lewis, Dayton and Nathan Klaas tied for team-high honors with 12 kills. Dayton also logged 11 digs, tying teammate Jordan Vidovic for match-high honors.
