Ball State University
18-10
Ohio State
16-10
Men?s Volleyball Falls In MIVA Tournament Championship
May 03, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
COLUMBUS, Ohio - - The Ball State men's volleyball team saw its 2009 season come to an end Saturday night with a 3-0 (30-25, 32-30, 30-19) setback to No. 10 Ohio State in the championship match of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tournament at St. John Arena.
The Cardinals end the season with an 18-10 overall record. Ohio State, which advances to the NCAA Championship for the second straight season, improves to 16-10 with the victory.
Ball State had three players named to the 2009 MIVA All-Tournament team, with Todd Chamberlain (Louisville, Ky./Trinity H.S.), Andy Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls H.S.) and Billy Ebel (Lenexa, Ka./Bishop Miege H.S.) earning the honor. Ohio State's Kevin Heine was named the tournament's MVP, while John Klanac and Ted Schoenfeldt also picked up all-tournament honors.
In Saturday's championships match, Chamberlain tied for match-high honors with 11 kills, while adding five digs and two block assists. Nelson ranked second on the squad with eight kills, while adding three digs and two blocks. Ebel paces all players with 14 digs after scoring a career-high 22 in Thursday's semifinal win over Lewis.
J.D. Gasparovic (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville H.S.) ended the match with seven kills and three blocks, while Ethan Pheister (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) led the Cardinals with four total blocks while handing out 31 assists.
Heine dominated play at the net, racking up a match-best seven blocks for the Buckeyes, while adding seven kills in his MVP run. Schoenfeldt tied BSU's Chamberlain for match-high honors with 11 kills, while adding 10 digs for a championship match double-double. Robbie Klein also scored 10 kills, while Klanac added eight.
As a team, the Buckeyes held a .224 (42-18-107) to .054 (38-32-112) attacking edge in the contest, while throwing up 14.5 team blocks compared to six for the Cardinals. OSU also held a slim 37-to-36 edge in digs.
The championship match opened with the teams battling to a 4-4 tie, before a pair of Ohio State errors gave the Cardinals a 6-4 edge. However, the Buckeyes responded with the next five points forcing Ball State to call timeout trailing 9-6. OSU added three more points after the timeout, including an ace from Ben Spurlock, to pull ahead 12-6.
Ball State would get three points back on two more OSU errors and a block from Dominic Spadavecchio (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd H.S.) and Nelson to draw within three at 12-9. After trading the next 10 points, BSU cut the lead to two points at 17-15 on an Ohio State attack error. However, the Cardinals could get no closer, eventually dropping the set 30-25 on a block from Klein and Heine.
The teams played to another 4-4 tie to open game two, before a Gasparovic kill and OSU attack error pushed the score to 6-4. A Spadavecchio kill upped the BSU lead to three at 9-6, while a Pheister dump moved the edge to four at 14-10.
With Ball State holding a 16-13 advantage, kills from OSU's Klanac and Schoenfeldt, followed by solo stuffs from Klein and Heine gave the Buckeyes a 17-16 lead and forced a Ball State timeout. Ohio State added two more points after the break to pull ahead 19-16. BSU was able to battle back using some strong play at the net to force three OSU attack errors and eventually tie the set at 21.
Nelson found the back of the court after a Buckeyes timeout, while ball handling error led to a 23-21 Ball State advantage and Ohio State's second minute break. The teams traded the next three points, before a pair of BSU blocks, including a triple stuff from Chamberlain, Pheister and Gasparovic, gave the Cardinals a 27-22 lead.
Ohio State responded with the next four points, however, thanks to a pair of BSU errors and a pair of blocks from Spurlock and Steven Kehoe, pushing the score to 27-26. Following a Ball State break, Gasparovic kept the Cardinals alive with three kills, as the score moved to 30-30. Unfortunately, a service error and attack error cost Ball State the game at 32-30.
Klein opened the third frame with a pair of kills as the Buckeyes surged to a quick 10-5 lead. Three straight kills from Spadavecchio, Matt Sprague (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette H.S.) and Gasparovic drew the Cardinals back within two at 10-8, only to see back-to-back Heine kills push the OSU lead back to four at 12-8.
A Gasparovic kill cut the gap to three at 12-9, but a 6-2 Ohio State run made BSU utilize its final timeout trailing 18-11. The Buckeyes scored the first two points out of the timeout, moving the lead to nine at 20-11, on their way to winning the game 30-19 on a BSU attack error.
