Ball State University
@ Ohio State
No. 8 Ball State Falls At No. 9 Ohio State, 3-1
April 11, 2008 | Men's Volleyball
COLUMBUS, Ohio - - The eighth-ranked Ball State men's volleyball team could not get past a hot Ohio State squad, suffering a 3-1 (28-30, 30-27, 30-23, 30-23) setback to the ninth-ranked Buckeyes Thursday evening at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
With the win, the Buckeyes - who improve to 17-7 (10-1 MIVA) - earn the No. 1 seed in the upcoming MIVA Tournament. The loss drops the Cardinals to 18-9 (9-2 MIVA) and gives them the No. 2 seed in the league tournament. BSU will host No. 7 seed Quincy in a quarterfinal match at Worthen Arena April 19 at 7:30 p.m.
In all, three Cardinals finished the match with double-digit kills, paced by junior Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) with 19. Fellow Louisville native, senior Patrick Durbin (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.), added 11 kills, while junior Matt McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South H.S.) posted 10.
Four Buckeyes collected double-figure kills in the contest, with Robbie Kline racking up a match-high 23 markers.
Despite the loss, Ball State held the defensive edge on the night, logging 56 digs to OSU's 53, while out-blocking the Buckeyes 11-to-9.
BSU senior Ian Peckler (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills H.S.) was the top defender of the match, with 19 digs. With the 19 digs, Peckler becomes the second player in program history to eclipse the 1,000 dig mark, upping his career total to 1,010.
Peckler was not the only BSU player to make a move in the record book Thursday night, as Durbin's 11 kills moved him into the top 20 in school annals with 846 career kills.
BSU freshman J.D. Gasparovic (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville H.S.) added a match-high seven total blocks, raising his team-leading blocks-per-game average to 1.40.
The Cardinals never trailed in the opening set, logging the first two points on a kill from Chamberlain and an Ohio State attack error. The Buckeyes did manage to tie the score on three occasions, playing the Cardinals to a 7-7 deadlock. However, Chamberlain's fourth of nine kills in the frame put BSU ahead for good.
With a 24-18 advantage, the Cardinals saw the hosts rally within two points at 26-24. Ball State recovered thanks in part to kills from Durbin and Marcus Imwalle (Maria Stein, Ohio/Marion Local H.S.) to reach game point at 29-26. A service error and a kill from Klein drew the Buckeyes within one, forcing BSU to call time out, but Gasparovic provided the set-winner out of the break.
Ball State scored the first point in the second game, only to see Ohio State claim a 7-4 edge. Another Chamberlain kill swung the momentum back to the Cardinals, as BSU rallied off the next four points to go ahead 8-7.
With the score tied at 9-9 a service ace from OSU's Jason Tobkin helped lift the Buckeyes to a 16-12 lead they did not relinquish the rest of the frame. After pulling ahead by as many as six points (26-20), the hosts won the set 30-27 thanks to a Klein kill.
The teams battled to an 8-8 tie to open the third frame, before a 6-3 rally gave Ball State a 14-11 edge and forced an Ohio State time out. The Buckeyes came out of the break on fire, scoring seven of the next eight points to move ahead 18-15.
After a block assists from Imwalle and Gasparovic helped the Cardinals trim the OSU lead to 22-20, a kill from Ted Schoenfeldt sparked a game-winning 8-3 run from the Buckeyes.
With Ohio State holding a 14-10 advantage in the fourth game, the Cardinals seemed to regain their energy as a Durbin kill and a pair of blocks help them take a 16-15 lead. A Gasparovic ace pushed the score to 18-16, but Tobkin followed with a momentum-shifting kill, leading the Buckeyes on a 6-0 run the Cardinals would never recover from.
Ohio State eventually reached match-point at 29-23, off a Brett Versen kill, and won the set 30-23 and the match 3-1 on a Ball State attack error.
Offensively, the Buckeyes out-hit the Cardinals .252 (66-26-159) to .236 (60-25-148) in the contest, while scoring nine aces to BSU's four.
The No. 8 Cardinals end the 2008 regular season Saturday with a 7 p.m. CT (8 p.m. Muncie time) match at No. 15 Lewis. Once again, WCRD 91.3 FM will carry the match live on ballstatesports.com.
