Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
0-3
St. Francis
3-0
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ball State | 31 | 25 | 30 | 28 | 1 |
| St. Francis | 29 | 30 | 32 | 30 | 3 |
No. 13 Men?s Volleyball Upset At St. Francis
January 25, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
LORETTO, Pa. - - One name will haunt the No. 13 Ball State (0-3) men's volleyball team as it travels back to Muncie Saturday night. Jordan Varee pounded a match-best 25 kills, including 10 in the final set, to lead the St Francis (3-0) to a 3-1 (29-31, 30-25, 32-30, 30-28) victory over BSU DeGol Arena.
Despite posting a season-best .275 (64-25-142) hitting percentage, the Cardinals could not slow down the Red Flash attack, which had four players reach double-figure kills let by Varee.
Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) was BSU's top attacked on the night, collecting 17 kills, while J.D. Gasparovic (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville H.S.) and Andy Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls ) added 10 kills each.
Billy Ebel (Lenexa, Ka./Bishop Miege H.S.) continued to build on his career-high, with a match-best 16 digs.
In addition to Varee's 25 kills, Nick Rivett added 19 for St. Francis, while Pete Freyer scored 14 and Alex Fortney recorded 10. Markus Schulze led the Red Flash with 14 digs, while Varee added 13 to complete a double-double.
The opening set was a back-and-forth slugfest, with BSU hitting .531 (19-2-32) and SFU hitting .350 (20-6-40). After 21 ties and seven lead changes, the score was knotted at 29-29. Nelson broke the final tie with a kill, while Chamberlain smashed the game-winner for BSU at 31-29.
The second game opened with the team's playing to a 2-2 tie, before a 6-2 SFU run gave the hosts an 8-4 advantage. From there, St. Francis built a 10-point edge at the 25-15 mark, before three kills and an ace from Dominic Spadavecchio (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd) helped bring the Cardinals within six at 26-20.
Kills from Nelson and Eric Schulte (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) got the Cardinals with three on two occasions, but back-to-back BSU attack errors ended the game at 30-25. On a side note, Daniel Penrod (Selma, Ind./Wapahani H.S.) recorded his first career service ace at the 22-14 mark of the game with a zinger off Schultz.
Set three was another back-and-forth battle with the teams playing through 14 ties and three lead changes, only to see the score remain tied at the 30-30 mark. This time, two more Ball State attack errors ended the game at 32-30 in favor of St. Francis.
The Cardinals climbed out to a 4-2 edge in the fourth game, only to see St. Francis rally back and tie the game at nine. This is where Varee took over, recording five kills on the next seven plays, giving the hosts a 14-11 lead.
SFU went on to pull ahead by six at 26-20, and reached match point at 29-26. A kill from Chamberlain and a block assists from Lee Meyer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller H.S.) and Gasparovic got BSU within one at 29-28, but Freyer smashed his third kill in the last five plays to give the Red Flash the match.
The Ball State men's volleyball team opens Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association play Friday (Jan. 30), when No. 12 Lewis visits Worthen Arena for a 7:30 p.m. first serve.
