Ball State University
Loyola
No. 15 Men's Volleyball Falls To No. 12 Loyola
April 06, 2007 | Men's Volleyball
CHICAGO, Ill. - - Despite winning the first game, the No. 15 Ball State men's volleyball team suffered a 1-3 (30-28, 29-31, 23-30, 19-30) setback at No. 12 Loyola's Alumni Gym Thursday.
With the loss, the Cardinals fall to 14-10 overall and 6-3 in Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association action. Loyola improves to 21-6 (8-4 MIVA) with the win.
Senior Nick Meyer (
Sophomore Matt McCarthy (
BSU junior libero Ian Peckler (
In the opening set, the Cardinals fell behind by six points at the 13-7 mark, before a kill from Meyer, back-to-back Rambler errors and a pair of block assists from Clarke and Mark Rumschik (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park H.S.) brought the Cardinals within one point at 13-12. However, a 10-6 Loyola run extended the host's lead back to five points at 23-18.
After a
The teams traded the next four points to push the score to 26-25, before playing to a 27-27 tie. A McCarthy kill broke the tie, while a Loyola ball handling error gave BSU game point at 29-27. A kill from Loyola's Ian Anderson on the next play kept the Ramblers alive, but Sprague answered with the game-winning kill.
In the second game, neither team was able to pull ahead by more than three points, as they battled to a 28-28 tie. A Meyer kill gave the Cardinals game point at the 29-28 mark. However, BSU was not able to capitalize as a James Grunst kill, followed by back-to-back Krisjanis Berzins markers, gave the Ramblers a 31-29 game two victory.
With the Cardinals holding a slim 20-19 advantage in the third game,
In the fourth game, the teams traded the first two points before Loyola put together a 5-2 run to pull ahead by three points at 6-3. After a pair of Rambler attack errors brought the Cardinals within one, at 6-5, Loyola went on a 7-2 run to take a 13-7 advantage. Form there, the hosts built a nine-point edge at 20-11, before winning the game by 11 points at 30-19.
In addition to his two aces and game-one winning kill, Sprague finished the night with seven kills and eight digs. Rumschik scored five kills, four blocks and a dig in the loss, while Clarke collected five blocks, four kills and a service ace.
Freshman setter Jeff Schmitz (
Also factoring in the match for
As a team, Loyola out-hit the Cardinals .258 (60-26-132) to .157 (50-30-127), while holding a 41-to-40 lead in digs, a 9-to-8 edge in blocks and a 9-to-7 advantage in aces.
The
