Ball State University
@ Pacific
Men?s Volleyball Scores 3-1 Win At Pacific
February 01, 2008 | Men's Volleyball
STOCKTON, Calif. - - The Ball State men's volleyball team opened its trip to the Golden State with a 3-1 (30-23, 30-26, 28-30, 30-25) victory over Pacific Friday night at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
With the win, the Cardinals fourth-straight, BSU improves to 5-5 on the year. The Tigers, who picked up their first win of the season Thursday night versus No. 7 Stanford, drops to 1-9 with the loss.
Offensively, the Cardinals were paced by its Louisville, Ky., duo of Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) and Patrick Durbin (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) who combined for 33 of the team's 54 kills.
Chamberlain paced all players with 19 markers, while adding five digs and a pair of blocks. Durbin tallied 14 kills as well as seven digs and four total blocks.
In addition to the solid offensive play from Durbin and Chamberlain, the Cardinals were able to capitalize at the net, recording a season-high 17.5 team blocks, including a career-high 10 total blocks from Matt McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South H.S.). McCarthy also collected six kills and a service ace in the win.
BSU's Ethan Pheister (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) and J.D. Gasparovic (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville H.S.) also collected career-highs in blocks with eight and six, respectively.
Ball State never trailed in the opening set, scoring four of the first five points to build an early 4-1 advantage. After BSU built a four-point advantage on a couple of occasions, the Tigers battled back within one at 16-15.
The Cardinals' lead remained one point, at 20-19, before a kill from Durbin and a Pacific attack error sparked a 10-4 game-winning run for Ball State.
The teams battled to a 4-4 tie in game two before a 5-0 BSU run, which included a pair of kills from Durbin and was capped by a Durbin and Gasparovic block assists, gave Ball State a 9-4 advantage.
The Cardinals maintained the five-point lead, at 19-14, only to see the Tigers draw within one at 22-21. BSU responded by scoring the next six points, including a pair of service aces from Pheister, to claim a 28-22 edge. Ball State went on to win the game 30-26.
Chamberlain smashed back-to-back kills to open the third game, while Durbin added a kill on the next play to give BSU a 3-0 lead. Ball State looked poised to win the game and the match, holding a 21-17 lead, but the hosts did not go down without a fight, rallying off the next five points to pull ahead 22-21.
After battling to a 26-26 tie, a kill from Pacific's Jason Borchin put the hosts ahead for good. Pekka Seppanen scored the game-winner for the Tigers at 30-28.
Game four opened with the teams playing to an 11-11 deadlock, before back-to-back Pacific errors gave BSU a 13-11 lead. A block assist from McCarthy and Durbin pushed the score to 18-13, while a McCarthy kill gave BSU a 20-15 edge.
Once again, the Tigers mounted a rally, running off five of the next six points making the score 21-20 in favor of the Cardinals. This time, Chamberlain was able to end the rally, scoring back-to-back kills and helping Ball State post nine of the final 14 points in the game. Pheister and McCarthy combined for the match-winning block assists at 30-25.
Ball State libero Ian Peckler (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills H.S.) collected double-digit digs for the fourth time this season, leading the Cardinals with 12.
Overall, BSU finished the match with a .252 (54-24-119) to .161 (57-35-137) attacking advantage in the contest, while out-blocking the hosts 17.5 to 13. Ball State also held a 35-to-34 lead in digs and a 5-to-3 edge in aces.
Simon Chen-Byerley paced the Tigers with 14 kills, while Seppanen added 13. Pacific's Mark Bauhs led all players with 13 digs.
Ball State returns to action Saturday with a 7 p.m. match at No. 7 Stanford.
