Ball State University
9-5 (3-4MIVA)
Lewis
10-3 (3-2MIVA)
No. 15 Lewis Tops Men?s Volleyball 3-2
February 27, 2010 | Men's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State men's volleyball team rallied from one game down two times, but could not push through in the end, suffering a 3-2 (30-23, 27-30, 34-32, 26-30, 15-13) setback to No. 15 Lewis Friday night at Worthen Arena.
With the loss, the Cardinals fall to 9-5 (3-4 MIVA). Lewis improves to 10-3 (3-2 MIVA) with the victory.
With the Flyers clamping down on BSU's middle attack, redshirt freshman outside attacker Jamion Hartley (North Chicago, Ill./North Chicago H.S.) carried the Ball State offense with a career-high 30 kills and a .389 (30-9-54) attacking percentage.
Hartley's 30 kills tie as the second-most for a BSU player in the rally scoring era, trailing only Jary Delgado's 31 kills in a five-game win at Penn State March 20, 2004.
In addition to Hartley's 30 kills, BSU junior Lee Meyer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller H.S.) added 17, while redshirt sophomore Dominic Spadavecchio (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd H.S.) blasted 10.
Ian Karbiener was Lewis' top attacker with 22 kills in the victory, while Brain Muesenfechter added 13 kills and a match-best five service aces.
On defense, Ball State held a commanding 61 to 46 lead in team digs, with senior libero Billy Ebel (Lenexa, Kan./Bishop Miege H.S.) scoring a match-best 18. Senior setter Ethan Pheister (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) added his second assist/dig double-double of the season with a career-high 14 digs to go along with 60 assists.
Rikki Garma paced the Flyers' defense with 15 digs. While BSU held the lead in the backcourt, Lewis finished the night with a 18.0 to 11.0 lead in team digs. Lewis's Mike Iandolo led all players with nine total blocks, while J.D. Gasparovic (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville H.S.) and Anders Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls H.S.) tied for team-high honors with five blocks apiece for the Cardinals.
Lewis also ended the night with a .213 (70-32-178) to .185 (72-40-173) hitting advantage.
Thanks to some strong serving from Muesenfechter, including three aces, Lewis jumped out to a commanding 11-3 lead in the opening frame. The Flyers extended the lead to a game-high 12 points at the 22-10 mark off a kill from Aaron Flick.
Two kills from Hartley and a Nelson marker helped Ball State battle back within nine at 22-13, but the guests would go on to reach set point at 29-20. Two kills from Spadavecchio and a block assist from Pheister and Nelson got the Cardinals within six at 29-23, but a Flick kill ended the set at 30-23 in Lewis' favor.
Two kills from Meyer and a Lewis attack error helped Ball State score the first three points in the second set, only to have the Flyers battle back to tie the game at four. With the score tied at five, BSU rattled off the next four points, including kills from Pheister and Spadavecchio, to pull ahead 9-5.
The back-and-forth battle continued as Lewis capitalized on three BSU errors to draw back within one at 9-8. From there, the teams traded several more runs only to play to a 16-16 stalemate. Ball State would break the tie with another Spadavecchio kill, while a Gasparovic ace and a Hartley kill pushed the lead to 19-16.
Ball State would extended its lead to four points several times, including the 28-24 mark, only to see Lewis crawl back within one point at 28-27. However, back-to-back Flyer errors ended the set 30-27 in favor of the Cardinals.
The Flyers controlled much of the third set, building a 5-1 advantage and playing to a 27-23 lead. This time, it was the Cardinals turn for a late-game rally, as they used three Hartley kills and a Lewis attack error to tie the game at 28.
Unfortunately, Ball State could not complete the comeback, as Lewis had five game points before a BSU attack error finally ended the set at 34-32 in favor of the Flyers.
With BSU holding a slim 16-15 lead in the fourth game, a Gasparovic kill, a block assist (Nelson and Hartley) and a Lewis attack error pushed the score to 19-15. The Flyers battled back within one point, at 20-19, only to see Ball State score six of the next seven points to pull ahead 26-20.
While Lewis pulled within three on two occasions down the stretch, a Nelson kill ended the game at 30-26 and forced a deciding fifth frame.
Game five was a classic battle between two evenly match teams, as the score quickly advanced to a 10-10 tie. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, back-to-back Muesenfechter kills gave Lewis a two-point lead at 12-10. From there, the teams traded the next six points, with Lewis pulling out a slim 15-13 win on Flick's second game-winning kill of the night.
The Ball State men's volleyball team will have the next 10 days off before returning to action with a March 9 with a 7 p.m. (MST) match at first-year MIVA rival Grand Canyon.
