Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
6-4 (2-0MIVA)
IPFW
7-5 (1-3MIVA)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPFW | 23 | 34 | 23 | 0 |
| Ball State | 30 | 36 | 30 | 3 |
Men?s Volleyball Sweeps IPFW In I-69 Showdown
February 28, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State men's volleyball team collected a 3-0 (30-23, 36-34, 30-23) sweep of in-state and Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association rival IPFW Friday night at Worthen Arena.
With the victory, the Cardinals remain first in the league with a 2-0 record, while climbing to 6-4 overall this season. IPFW drops to 7-5 (1-3 MIVA) with the loss.
“I thought we did a great job coming out with energy in game one tonight,” said BSU head coach Joel Walton. “We struggled to sustain that energy level in game two and it seemed like we ran out of gas a little bit. However, we fought through it and made the plays to come away with a win.”
Overall, the Ball State offense connected for a .300 (56-20-120) rate of success in the battle, with Marcus Imwalle (Maria Stein, Ohio/Marion Local) pacing all players with 16 kills in the contest, while Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) added 13.
The Cardinals also dominated play in the middle of the court with Andy Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls H.S.) pounding nine kills while turning in a .571 (9-1-14) hitting effort. After a slow start, the nation's leading attacker by percentage J.D. Gasparovic (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville H.S.) finished the match with seven kills and a .429 (7-1-14) mark, including a six-kill, .750 (6-0-8) attack percentage in the final set.
Phil Peterson led the IPFW offense with 11 kills, while Ben Duckworth added 10 kills as the Mastodons finished the contest with a .134 (40-23-127) attack percentage.
On the defensive side of the ball, BSU libero Billy Ebel (Lenexa, Kan./Bishop Miege) led all players with 18 digs, while Matt Sprague (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette H.S.) added a career-high 12 digs. IPFW was led by Duckworth's nine digs.
In game one, the in-state rivals were tied through 12 serves before BSU broke away with a five-point run to take an 11-6 lead. Gasparovic started the run with his lone kill of the first two sets, while adding a pair of block assists. Imwalle also had three blocks in the run, including a solo stuff. The Cardinals opened up their largest lead of the game at nine, 21-12, on a Chamberlain kill.
IPFW responded with five-straight points as part of a 9-3 run to cut BSU's lead to 24-21. However, back-to-back kills from Sprague pushed the momentum back to the Ball State side of the court, as BSU rallied off six of the final eight points to win the set 30-23. Nelson accounted for the final three points with a block assist and a pair of kills. Overall, the Cardinals posted eight of thier 11 team blocks in the first frame.
Game two was a much closer affair, with the largest lead being a four point IPFW advantage, at 11-7 and 14-10. BSU put together a 6-2 run highlighted by a pair of Imwalle kills to tie the score at 16-16. The set was a stalemate the rest of the way, with neither team getting larger than a two point lead.
Both teams combined to squander six game point opportunities before a Chamberlain service ace gave the Cardinals a 36-34 game two win and a 2-0 advantage in the match. Chamberlain also earned a kill to tie the set at 33-33 and prevent a Mastodon victory. Nelson also played a crucial role down the stretch, registering two kills to keep the Cardinals ahead at 31-30 and 32-31.
The third set was anther back-and-forth battle early, as the two teams played to an 18-18 deadlock with Eric Schulte (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) providing the match-tying kill. A pair of IPFW attack errors followed, giving the Cardinals a 20-18 edge. Gasparovic gave the Cardinals a four-point lead at the 25-21 mark, while a Mastodon's red card tacked another point to the BSU lead, pushing the score to 26-21.
With Ball State maintaining a 28-23 advantage, Mark Termion (Winfield, Ill./Wheaton North H.S.) served out the match posting an ace and forcing an IPFW error with another strong serve.
The Ball State men's volleyball team returns to action Saturday, when it hosts No. 14 Loyola in another pivotal MIVA showdown at 7:30 p.m. in Worthen Arena.
