Ball State University Athletics
No. 12 Men's Volleyball To Host Grand Canyon
March 12, 2015 | Men's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. -- The No. 12 Ball State men's volleyball team (10-8, 4-3 MIVA) will return back to Worthen Arena after a four match road series Friday and Saturday when it takes on Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association opponent Grand Canyon (11-7, 3-5 MIVA). Both matches are set for 7:30 p.m. and Friday's match will feature a team poster signing session following the conclusion of the match.
Last weekend, Ball State rounded out spring break road trip action against UC-Irvine and UC-San Diego, and ultimately rebounded from a three match losing streak when it served up a narrow 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-23) sweep Saturday evening over UC-San Diego.
On Friday in the 3-0 (16-25, 28-30, 18-25) loss to UC-Irvine, senior Shane Witmer dominated the Cardinals offense, when he tallied 11 kills on 19 attempts for a .368 attack percentage. Witmer's attack lead to twice as many kills by any single Cardinal in the three set match, making it his fifth match of the season posting 10 or more and marked his second match in a row with 11 kills.
The Cardinals were able to battle for extra points in the second set going to 30, with the major turnaround of attack percentage of -.033 in the first set to .389 in the second set, though ultimately dropped the second 30-28. It was the closest scoring of the night, with the other two sets putting up scores of 16 and 18 for the Cards.
At the line, junior Hiago Garchet downed two of the Cardinals' four aces, while at the net he tallied 28 assists, one solo block and two block assists. Ball State's reception was tackled by a variation when Witmer, Garchet and junior Marcin Niemczewski each posted seven digs, while senior libero David Ryan Vander Meer put up eight digs, and received an error-free 22 shots.
Saturday night, the Cardinals rounded out the weekend action with a narrow 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-20) win over UC-San Diego.
Senior Matt Sutherland topped the Cardinal offense with a recorded nine kills on a .250 attack percentage in addition to racking up six digs throughout the match. He was joined in the ranks by sophomore Brendan Surane who tallied seven kills for a .700 attack percentage while he also posted one of an outstanding six Cardinal aces on the night. Sutherland also downed two aces while Surane took on net attacks with one solo block and two block assists.
Sophomore Alex Pia served up three Ball State service aces in the match which ranks second highest of a match in the season just following Surane. At the net, five different Cards stopped at least two attacks each, although Surane posted the lone solo block.
Garchet lined up the Cardinals' offense with 33 recorded assists for a .452 percentage. He also tallied a team high of 12 digs, in addition to marking 17 error-free serves.
Ball State and UC-San Diego held a tight match in the stat books, with each team posting a .271 and .133 attack percentage, respectively. The Cardinals attack percentage steadily improved throughout the three set match, marking .125, .321 and .429 over the course of the evening.
SCOUTING GRAND CANYON: The 'Lopes are riding a four match win streak after they beat No. 11 Ohio State 3-2, followed by Concordia-Irvine and two wins over Barton, while they currently hold an 11-7 overall record, including a 3-5 MIVA record. Ball State holds the all-time advantage over the Grand Canyon at 11-2, although the Cardinals have only swept the 'Lopes twice. Most recently, Grand Canyon was last in Muncie on Feb. 9 and 10, 2013, where the teams split the weekend action. Nationally, Ball State sits in third in blocks per set with 2.91, while Grand Canyon follows in 10th at 2.64. Standouts include Ryan Mather who holds 224 kills in 61 sets, while he is assisted by setter Michael Milstein who tallies 424 assists and marks 9.86 assists per set. Christian Ward and Ashton King hold 71 and 51 total blocks, respectively, while Mather and Gerrard Lipscombe post a team-leading 23 aces each on the season.
For fans unable to attend this weekend's matches, live stats and live broadcast will be available at the following links:
LIVE STATS: http://ballstatesports.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml?SPID=7635&DB_OEM_ID=14200&LIST_SPORT__VOLLEYBALL
LIVE BROADCASTS: http://ballstatesports.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?SPID=7635&db_oem_id=14200
Looking ahead, the Ball State men's volleyball team will host nonconference opponent Princeton in Worthen Arena on Wednesday, Mar. 18 at 7:30 p.m.
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State men's volleyball action, follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateMVB on Twitter and Instagram.
