Ball State University
@ St. Francis
No. 7 Men?s Volleyball Sweeps St. Francis
March 30, 2008 | Men's Volleyball
LORETTO, Pa. - - The No. 7 Ball State men's volleyball team returned to the win column with a 3-0 (30-22, 39-37, 30-27) sweep of St. Francis Sunday afternoon at DeGol Arena.
With the win, the Cardinals improve to 17-7, while the Red Flash drop to 9-13 with the loss.
Senior Patrick Durbin (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) paced the Ball State attack with 19 kills, while freshman Marcus Imwalle (Maria Stein, Ohio/Marion Local H.S.) added 13 markers.
Defensively, Ian Peckler (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills H.S.) paced all players with 17 digs, while Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) added 10.
As a team, the Cardinals held a .262 (57-25-122) to .185 (44-22-119) attacking lead in the match, while out-digging the hosts 46-to-34. The Red Flash held a slim 9-to-7 edge in total blocks.
The Cardinals built a 4-2 advantage early in the opening set, only to see the Red Flash rally off the next five points to pull ahead 7-4. With St. Francis maintaining a 13-9 edge, it was BSU's turn to go to work, as the Cardinals rallied off 12 of the next 13 points to take control of the set 21-14. The rally included a six-point service run from Durbin in which the senior scored an ace and three kills.
With a 26-22 advantage, kills from J.D. Gasparovic (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville H.S.), Imwalle and Chamberlain gave BSU game point at 29-22. A St. Francis error on the next play gave the Cardinals a 30-22 opening-set victory.
The second game was a back-and-forth battle with neither team being able to pull ahead by more than two points through a 20-20 tie. With Ball State holding a slim 23-21 advantage off St. Francis service error, a five-point run by the hosts gave the Red Flash the largest lead of the set at 26-23.
Matt McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warren South H.S.) broke up the St. Francis run with an off-speed shoot, while an Imwalle kill brought the Cardinals back within one. After a BSU service error, back-to-back Durbin kills tied the set at 27. From there, the teams traded the next 12 points (giving the hosts five game points) to push the score to 33-33.
The Cardinals got their first change at game point at 34-33 after a Durbin kill, but back-to-back BSU miscues put the Red Flash back in charge of the set. With the Cardinals trailing 36-35 two-straight Gasparovic markers turned the tide for the Cardinals, giving them their second game point at 37-36.
After a service error, Chamberlain gave BSU its third and final game point at 38-37. Ball State won the game 39-37 after an attack attempt from the hosts went just long. Overall, there were 30 ties and 13 lead changes in the game.
St. Francis opened the third set with the first two points, on the way to building a 10-4 advantage. After a McCarthy kill snapped a 5-0 Red Flash run, the Cardinals rallied off seven of the next eight points to tie the set at 11, with a pair of Gasparovic block assist capping the run.
A Durbin kill gave BSU its first lead of the set at 15-14, while an Imwalle marker at 22-21 gave the Cardinals the lead for good in the game. A St. Francis attack error and a Gasparovic put down followed the Imwalle marker, as BSU built a 24-21 edge. The Cardinals went on to win the game 30-27 on a Chamberlain kill.
The Ball State men's volleyball team will conclude the home portion of its 2008 schedule with home matches versus Rutgers-Newark and No. 11 George Mason.
