Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
7-3
George Mason
2-6
George Mason Sweeps Men?s Volleyball
February 08, 2015 | Men's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - The No. 13 Ball State (7-3, 2-1 MIVA) men's volleyball team fell in a 3-0 (24-26, 17-25, 25-27) sweep to George Mason (2-6), while the Patriots earned their second victory of the season.
“The fans were great, they were just waiting for us to get into a lead, and we had two moments at the end of game one and the end of game three where we just needed to finish the game and we couldn't do it,” Ball State men's volleyball head coach Joel Walton said. “The fans were right there with us trying to push us over the top, and we just couldn't make plays.”
Leading the Cardinals offensively was freshman Matt Walsh with 10 kills on 16 attempts paired with three blocks, along with junior Marcin Niemczewski who posted 10 kills and three digs. Sophomore Brendan Surane marked the lone service ace for the Cardinals in the three set match, making it his 16th of the season.
Defensively, senior libero David Ryan Vander Meer notched 13 digs and three assists, while senior Shane Witmer marked 11 digs of his own along with a .952 reception percentage on 20 shots.
“We had a really good start, but I feel after every mistake we made we hung our heads and couldn't get past it going into the next play,” Walsh said. “I think we need to work on getting past the play with our attitude, and work on our serving game more, since that's what usually kills our momentum.”
Ball State suffered from 11 service errors and 22 attack errors compared to George Mason's 12 service errors paired with 15 attack errors.
The Patriots held the advantage in kills (40-37), attack percentage (.243-.161), total attacks (103-93) and blocks (10.5-5.0), despite falling in digs to the Cardinals (38-32).
“It seems that there is some teamwork and cohesion that were lacking at this moment, and we allowed George Mason to win game one and take the momentum and carry that over into game two” Walton went on. “The energy is really the mechanism of a team, so we need to get together as a group and work through some things in practice and make sure that some of the technical stuff comes together in the process.”
The Ball State men's volleyball team will round out its five-match home stand when it welcomes Lewis on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State men's volleyball, follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateMVB on Twitter and Instagram.
