Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
15-9
Penn State
24-3
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penn State | 30 | 30 | 30 | 3 |
| Ball State | 20 | 28 | 16 | 0 |
Tough Serving Lifts Penn State Past Men?s Volleyball
April 18, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - The No. 15 Ball State men's volleyball team suffered a 3-0 (30-20, 30-28, 30-16) setback to defending national champion and No. 7-ranked Penn State Friday evening at Worthen Arena.
With the loss, the Cardinals fall to 15-9 on the year, while the Nittany Lions improve to 24-3 with the victory.
Serving was the key to the PSU victory, as they kept BSU's passer out of rhythm with 15 service aces, including a match-high six from Max Holtz. BSU served up five aces, with Ethan Pheister (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) blasting three.
Dominic Spadavecchio (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd H.S.) was BSU's top attacker, smashing seven kills, while Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.) added six. Overall, the Penn State defense limited the Cardinals to a season-low 25 total kills and a .132 (25-16-68) attack percentage.
Penn State's Will Price paced all players with 12 kills in the contest, while three other PSU attackers (Max Lipsitz, Joe Sunder, Ryan Sweitzer) earned nine kills each. Overall, the Nittany Lions hit .395 (46-14-81) with Edgardo Goas handing out 37 assists.
In the backcourt, Chamberlain paced all players with seven digs, while Price added a team-best six digs for Penn State.
The match opened with the teams trading errors, before back-to-back kills from Price sparked a 6-1
However, the guests answered with the next four points before going on to win the set 30-20 on a Switzer kill.
The biggest moment of the night, however, came between games one and two, when BSU senior Mark Termion (
After falling behind 3-1 in the second game, the Cardinals found their momentum rallying off the next four points thanks to a kill and block from Nelson - who was joined by Chamberlain on the block - and a pair of Nittany Lions errors which gave BSU their first lead of the night at 5-3.
Unfortunately, PSU battled back to tie the set at 12, and from there, the teams fought to a 28-28 tie. An untimely service error by the Cardinals broke the tie and gave the Nittany Lions set point, while a Sunder kill ended the game at 30-28.
The final game saw Penn State score four of the first five points, and never look back, winning the game 30-16. Holt racked up four of his six aces in a pivotal 9-0 PSU run which pushed the score from 10-7 to 19-7 and forced BSU to utilize both its timeouts.
The Ball State men's volleyball team closes the regular season Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. matchup versus Saint Francis. Live video from the match will be streamed live on ballstatesports.com, with WCRD providing the play-by-play action.
After Saturday's match versus Saint Francis, the Ball State men's volleyball team will honor its four-member senior class: Chamberlain, Ben Irwin (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove H.S.), McCarthy and Termion. Chamberlain, McCarthy and Termion are in their final year of eligibility, while Irwin has elected to graduate on time and will not use his final year of eligibility next season.
