MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State men's volleyball team moved into first place in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association with a 3-1 (31-33, 30-27, 30-19, 34-32) victory over No. 11 Loyola Wednesday evening at Worthen Arena.
The Cardinals improve to 10-6 overall and to 5-1 in league play with the win, moving into a tie for the top spot in the MIVA with No. 10 Ohio State, who the Cardinals beat last Friday. The Ramblers fall to 6-6 (3-2 MIVA) with the loss.
“We played an up and down match all night,” said BSU head coach Joel Walton. “Thankfully, we finished up. We've made it interesting all year long.”
In the victory, BSU senior libero Ian Peckler (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills H.S.) collected a match-high 17 digs, marking his seventh match this season with 10-or-more digs.
The double-digit effort moves Peckler into sole possession of first place in the Ball State record books for career matches with double-figure digs at 44. Peckler entered the match tied with BSU's all-time digs leader Chris Beerman (1987-90).
Offensively, the reigning MIVA Player of the Week Patrick Durbin (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) collected a match-high 23 kills for his fifth 20-plus kill effort this season. He also hit .425 (23-6-40) in the contest, while logging eight digs and BSU's lone service ace.
Fellow Louisville native Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) finished the night with a double-double, logging 16 kills and 11 digs, while scoring six total blocks (2 solo and 4 assists).
“I thought Todd took a lot of good swings for us,” continued Walton. “He was instrumental in our game three run. He had three or four big plays and even took a block with his face, but we'll take it however we can get it.”
Also collecting double-digit kills for the Cardinals was Matt McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South H.S.), who finished the match with 10, while adding six total blocks (2 solo and 4 assists).
Kris Berzins paced three Ramblers who logged double-digit kills, with 19. Loyola's Ian Anderson added 13 kills and 10 digs for a double-double, while George Kamberos scored 11 kills and Matt Baleiko logged a team-best 12 digs.
Overall, Ball State out-hit Loyola .224 (61-28-147) to .143 (61-37-168) in the victory, while holding a 55-to-46 advantage in digs and a 18-to-11 lead in team blocks. The Ramblers scored four aces to the Cardinals one.
Neither team was able to take a large advantage in the opening set, as the teams played through 11 ties and four lead changes, only to end up at a 28-28 deadlock. Anderson gave the guest the first game point with a kill, while McCarthy followed with a marker of his own to tie the set at 29.
Back-to-back service errors pushed the score to 30-30, before Durbin smashed a kill to give BSU its first game point at 31-30. Anderson responded with three-straight kills for Loyola, guiding them to a 33-31 opening set win.
“It got down to the end of game one and Anderson was hitting some roll shots and we had some other break downs that were really frustrating,” Walton said about the opening set. “We weren't playing defense very well and we told the guys we out played them in game one, we just needed to put our serve in play and play better back row defense.”
The Cardinals responded to the challenge from the coaches by never trailing in the second set. J.D. Gasparovic (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville H.S.) pounded back-to-back kills to open the frame, as BSU quickly built a 4-1 advantage.
With the Cardinals leading 13-9, Marcus Imwalle (St. Mary's Ohio/Maria Stein H.S.) chipped in with one of his six kills on the night, to help spark a 5-0 BSU run, which also included a kill from Chamberlain, a pair of block assists from McCarthy and Ethan Pheister (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) and ended with a McCarthy solo stuff.
Ball State looked ready to end the set with a 29-21 advantage, but the guests rallied off the next five points to draw within two at 29-27. After BSU used its second time out, Durbin answered the LUC rally with a game-winning kill.
Game three started with the Cardinals breaking a 2-2 tie with five straight points, including two more block assists, this time from Gasparovic and Chamberlain. Loyola rallied back with the next four points, making the score 7-6.
After the teams exchanged several point runs, the guests remained down by one at 16-15. Ball State was able to capitalize on a Loyola service error on the next play, as Durbin followed with an ace and served BSU to a 23-16 lead.
The Cardinals held an eight-point edge at 27-19, before a Imwalle and McCarthy blocks assists, followed by kills from Chamberlain and McCarthy ended the game at 30-19.
The Ramblers looked poised to force a fifth game, by opening the fourth frame with a 5-0 run. Loyola built a six-point advantage at 11-5, only to see the Cardinals draw within one at 20-19 on a Peckler over pass kill, his second of the night.
After Loyola regained a little momentum, pulling ahead 26-23, Chamberlain rallied the Cardinals by scoring kills on three of the next four plays, while Durbin added another marker as BSU moved ahead 28-26.
Kyle Exline and Berzins scored back-to-back markers for the guests to tie the score at 28, before three-straight service errors gave BSU match-point at 30-29. The teams traded kills on the next four points, while a Ball State attack error tied the score at 32-32.
Loyola followed with a service error, before a strong serve from Gasparovic forced Berzins to hit the ball into a McCarthy and Lee Meyer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller H.S.) match-winning block.
With the victory, the Cardinals have won nine of their last 10 matches and improve to 4-0 in MIVA matches at home.
“So far we've protected our home court,” concluded Walton. “We've have some important matches left versus Quincy and Mercyhurst, plus we still have IPFW twice and Ohio State and Lewis on the road. We have to take care of business with those teams. The team that can go on the road and come away with victories will win the conference championship this year.”
Ball State will have a couple weeks to prepare for its next conference match, as it hosts East Stroudsburg in a non-conference match Saturday, before battling No. 6 UCLA in the 2008 Don Shondell/Active Ankle Challenge Feb. 29 and March 1. All three matches start at 7:30 p.m.
