Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
1-1
Alderson Broaddus
0-2
Men?s Volleyball Earns Saturday Night Sweep Of Battlers
January 10, 2016 | Men's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. -- The No. 14 Ball State (1-1) men's volleyball team closed action in its season-opening weekend with a significant 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-17) sweep of Alderson Broaddus (0-2). The effort was built of a .344 team attack percentage, three service aces, and nine total team blocks, all coming from a combination of 13 different players from the Ball State squad.
“It was nice to get some new guys out on the court tonight. There were a number of players who have been doing really good things in practice,” Ball State men's volleyball head coach Joel Walton said. “I'm not a bit surprised that Jack Lesure was our kill leader tonight, because we've seen him put up good numbers every day in practice. Parker Swartz is one of our better servers and his serve is a bit unusual, so we're trying to create opportunities for him to be out on the court.”
Senior Lesure marked a team leading 11 kills, one ace and three block assists. Other standouts at the front line included junior Marcin Niemczewski, who earned a 1.000 hitting percentage, as well as junior Edgardo Cartagena, who tallied six kills, including the match point.
Defensively, the Cardinals rotated between two liberos in freshman Adam Wessel as well as sophomore Jeff Hill. Both liberos marked perfect reception percentages on a combined 14 receptions, and tallied a combined seven digs.
Sophomore Matt Walsh continued to lead Ball State in blocking action, earning three block assists, in addition to marking three kills. Lesure and Swartz were right with Walsh, each posting three block assists as well.
The Cardinals dominated the Battlers in nearly every statistical category over the course of the three sets, including kills (33-25), digs (22-19) and points (45.0-28.0), in addition to punching in a slanted .344 attack percentage while holding the visitors to -.036.
Looking ahead, the Ball State men's volleyball team will welcome Sacred Heart and Harvard to Worthen Arena on Jan. 14 and 15, respectively, prior to hitting the road for a six-match stretch. Both matchups are slated for a 7:30 p.m. start.
“Our guys need to be ready and to play in a way to protect the home court advantage next week against Sacred Heart and Harvard, and cannot be as tentative as we were last night,” Walton added. “It will be great to have the student fan base back on campus as well for the Thursday and Friday matches.”
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State men's volleyball action, follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateMVB on Twitter and Instagram.
