Ball State University
@ Penn State
Travel Woes Hinder No. 7 Men?s Volleyball Upset Bid
March 30, 2008 | Men's Volleyball
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - - A broken oil line on the team bus kept the No. 7 Ball State men's volleyball in Muncie three hours longer than planned, forcing tonight's match to be pushed back to 8:45 p.m., and eventually helping lead to a 3-0 (30-26, 30-22, 30-17) victory for No. 1 Penn State at Rec Hall.
The loss, the Cardinals first since 3-2 setback at then-No. 7 Stanford on Feb. 2, snaps Ball State's 11-match winning streak and moves BSU's record to 16-7. The top-ranked Nittany Lions improve to 24-1 with the victory.
Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) and Marcus Imwalle (Maria Stein, Ohio/Marion Local H.S.) paced the Ball State offense with nine kills apiece, while Matt McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South H.S.) and Patrick Durbin (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) each added eight.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to an early 3-1 advantage in the opening set, only to see a Durbin kill and a McCarthy service ace knot the score at 3-3. With the score deadlock at 5-5, the hosts managed to rally off the next four points, forcing BSU to call a time out trailing 9-5.
After the break, the Cardinals responded with a four-point rally of its own, behind a pair of kills from Imwalle, to tie the score at 9-9. The Cardinals eventually built a 15-13 lead, forcing PSU to call its first time out.
With BSU holding an 18-15 edge after a kill from Chamberlain, Penn State posted a 6-0 rally to take control of the set at 21-18. The Nittany Lions went on to build a 27-21 advantage, before winning the set 30-26.
Penn State opened the second game with a 4-0 run, sparked by a kill from Matt Anderson, who paced all players with 15 markers in the contest. The Cardinals responded by tying the game at 9-9 with the help of three kills from Imwalle and a pair of put-downs from Chamberlain.
However, Penn State answered the charge with a 5-1 run and never looked back, winning the game 30-22 on back-to-back kills from Anderson.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to their second-straight 4-0 advantage to open the third game, helped out by a pair of early kills from Ryan Sweitzer. A McCarthy marker stopped PSU's run, but the hosts pulled away from there, building a 10-point lead at 16-6 before winning the game 30-17.
Overall, the Nittany Lions held a .483 (52-10-87) to .146 (40-26-96) attacking advantage in the contest. PSU also held a 25-to-19 edge in digs, a 9.5-to-5.5 lead in total blocks.
The Ball State men's volleyball team returns to action Sunday, when it visits St. Francis for a 4 p.m. first serve.
