Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
9-5 (4-3MIVA)
Ohio State
11-3 (5-1MIVA)
No. 15 Men?s Volleyball Upsets No. 12 Ohio State
February 22, 2015 | Men's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - The No. 15 Ball State (9-5, 4-3 MIVA) men's volleyball team rounded out the weekend action with an upset win over No. 12 Ohio State (12-2, 5-1 MIVA) Saturday evening. The Cardinals continued the border state rivalry with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-23) victory at Worthen Arena, making it Ohio State's first conference loss of the season.
“It was nice to see our guys play with what we know is their ability and they worked really hard for the win,” Ball State men's volleyball head coach Joel Walton said. “We had a really good balance on our offense, and we were running attacks out of a variety of different players, and that just keeps opponents out of balance.”
A well rounded Ball State team held Ohio State to a .132 overall attack percentage throughout the three games, while the Cardinals posted .298. This was with the help of junior Marcin Niemczewski who finished with 10 kills and six blocks, as well as sophomore Brendan Surane who held seven kills. Surane rocked a .875 attack percentage, five blocks and one ace, while Niemczewski tallied six digs and one ace.
“I think we realized after our four losses, that we needed to come out and win a big game and tonight was that night where we could show what we're capable of,” Niemczewski said. “We came into the game with a lot of energy and we were really pumped up, and we showed what we got. We played at our fullest and we were able to sweep Ohio State, and that's huge.”
All six serving aces downed by the Cardinals came from different players, including Surane, Niemczewski, Shane Witmer, Matt Sutherland, Hiago Garchet, and Matt Walsh. Niemczewski posted the game-ending kills in sets one and three, while Walsh swooped in with an attack to end the second.
Defensively, freshman Walsh tallied up seven block assists and one solo, while Witmer marked nine error-free serves and a .870 reception percentage on 20 shots.
The stand out of Ohio State came from a dominating Nicolas Szerszen who marked 13 of the Buckeyes 35 kills, eight digs, one ace and three blocks. Szerszen held down the Ohio State offense with Miles Johnson who tallied three of 6 service aces and nine kills on the night.
“It was a big win, and the challenge tonight was going to be handling their serving game, they always put a ton of pressure on whoever they're playing,” Walton went on. “Our guys did a nice job stepping up, and Ohio State still had runs at certain moments, but we had done such a good job at other moments throughout the match that we were able to overcome those runs, and still were able to open up runs on our side. It was a job well done by Ball State tonight.”
Tonight's match marked the fourth win in a row for the Cardinals over Ohio State, and hosted an outstanding 1,157 fans in Worthen Arena.
The Ball State men's volleyball team will commence a 10-day road trip when they travel to Provo, Utah on Friday, Feb. 27 to take on Brigham Young University. They will round the trip out by taking on UC-Irvine and UC-San Diego in California on March 6 and 7.
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State men's volleyball, follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateMVB on Twitter and Instagram.
