Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
5-4 (0-2MIVA)
Lewis
7-3 (1-1MIVA)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis | 44 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| Ball State | 42 | 19 | 15 | 0 |
Men?s Volleyball Swept By No. 6 Lewis
February 05, 2012 | Men's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - After a spirit-breaking 44-42 first-set loss, the Ball State men's volleyball team could not rebound and fell to sixth-ranked Lewis 3-0 (44-42, 25-19, 25-15) Sunday afternoon in Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association action at Worthen Arena.
The 86-point opening set, which lasted 46 minutes, is the longest in the rally-scoring era for the Cardinals, topping the previous mark of 84 points when BSU dropped the third set 43-41 to Loyola in the semifinals of the MIVA Tournament on April 25, 2003.
Ball State's (5-4 / 0-2 MIVA) middles provided a bulk of the offense Sunday, with sophomore Kevin Owens (Fishers, Ind./Cathedral) smashing a team-high 11 kills while hitting for a .400 (11-3-20) rate of success. Owens blasted eight of those kills in the opening game, while hitting .636 (8-1-11) in the frame. He also finished the contest tied for match-high honors with five total blocks.
Redshirt sophomore middle attacker Matt Leske (Highwood, Ill./Highland Park H.S.) added seven kills and a pair of blocks. He also produced one of BSU's two service aces.
Sophomore libero Tommy Rouse (Carmel, Ind./Cathedral) led BSU with eight digs.
Lewis' Jay Petty led all players with 17 kills, while Ian Karbiener tagged 13. The Flyers setter BJ Boldog collected a match-high nine digs while guiding Lewis to a .303 (52-17-116) hitting mark.
On defense, the Flyers limited Ball State to a .057 (36-30-106) hitting mark for the day. BSU did hold a 39-32 edge in digs, but Lewis out-blocked the Cardinals 11-8.5. The Flyers also served up 21 service errors compared to nine for BSU.
Lewis looked poised to walk away with the first set, leading 16-10 and eventually reaching set-point at 24-21. However, BSU refused to go down easy, as a Flyers service error and back-to-back solo blocks from Leske and freshman outside hitter David Ryan Vander Meer (Grand Rapids, Mich./Homeschooled) tied the score at 25.
After surviving three attempts by the Flyers to win the frame, a Graham McIlvaine (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) service ace gave BSU its first of 14 set points at 25-24. However a Lewis block ended the rally and the teams battled to a 42-42 stalemate. A kill from Greg Petty gave Lewis its eighth swing for the set at 43-42, while a block from Boldog and Aaron Flick finally ended the set at 44-42.
With the score knotted at 4-4 in the second stanza, a three-point run gave the Flyers control. They pulled ahead by six at 15-9 and eventually won by the same margin on a BSU attack error at 25-19.
Lewis surged to an 8-4 lead in the third set, and never looked back, pulling ahead by 10 at 18-8. The Flyers went on to win the game 25-15 on a Karbiener kill.
The Ball State men's volleyball team returns to action Thursday, when it takes a step out of league play to battle Lindenwood in a 7:30 p.m. first serve at Worthen Arena.
