Ball State University
IPFW
Men?s Volleyball Downs In-State Rival IPFW With 3-1 Final
March 17, 2016 | Men's Volleyball
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The No. 10 Ball State (16-5, 9-1) men's volleyball team renewed the in-state rivalry with Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association foe IPFW (7-13, 0-8 MIVA) Wednesday evening. On the Arnie Ball Court, the Cardinals fought through a narrow 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-19) rebound victory, with the help of 13 kills by the hand of junior Brendan Surane.
The first set was speckled with four Mastodon service aces and four Ball State attacking errors, leading to the Cardinals fall by 25-21. The game came as narrow as a two point lead by the 'Dons, although IPFW successfully held the Cardinals off by only allowing one tie score early on in the set, despite sophomore Matt Walsh kicking off with three of his nine total blocks of the night.
“We didn't pass well in the first game and we didn't play very good defense either so it was a combination leading to the loss,” Ball State men's volleyball head coach Joel Walton said. “We gave up four service aces and IPFW hit a really good percentage in game one, so it was kind of a combination of their offense running really well and us not doing very well with defense.”
Surane ramped up the Cardinals offense in the second set by tallying three kills, including the set-winner for a 25-19 final to ignite the rebound. Freshman Parker Swartz got Ball State on track by putting up the first ace of the match, while the Cardinals continued to lead the blocking game by a narrow 6.0-4.0 mark. By openly winning the second set with no lead changes or tie scores, the Cardinals gained momentum to propel them through the narrow match victory.
It was sophomore Mitch Weiler who led off the third set by notching a point for Ball State, although the two teams were neck-and-neck over the course of the entire game. With seven tie scores before just a 10-10 mark, the pair of MIVA foes ultimately fought through 10 in the set. It was that close right up until the very end, as the Cardinals led by 23-22 prior to a Surane kill from the right pin, followed by an IPFW mark to make it 24-23. Before going into extra points, Surane shut down the set 25-23 with his fourth kill of the game from a left side attack.
“Cartagena really had a great match for us tonight; he finished hitting .538 and had seven kills on 13 swings, so he was a big momentum shift,” Walton said of the three consecutive set wins. “In addition to his offense, he steadied our passing, making him a big catalyst, helping to get Surane on track. Surane took a couple of big swings and as a result at the end of game three, when it could have gone either way, but he came up with a couple of kills helping us finish off that game.”
The match was closed out with a 25-19 final in favor of the Cardinals by an ace from Edgardo Cartagena, his second of the season. It was one of four from the Ball State squad. Despite not tallying any blocks in the final set, the Cardinals closed out the match over the Mastodons with a 10.0-8.0 edge, in addition to being clean just three attacking errors.
“I think another key moment for us was when Matt Walsh went on a scoring run in game four and it opened up a big gap,” Walton said. “It was a really critical point for us, and so the lead at that point was huge.”
Continuing to take advantage of its opponent's errors at the net, Ball State held to just 12 on the night, while the 'Dons suffered from 29 over the course of the four sets, including a match-high of nine in the third, compared to the Cardinals match-low of two in the same game.
Looking ahead, the Cardinals will welcome No. 13 UC Irvine to Worthen Arena for a noon matinee matchup on Sunday, March 20 for its final non-conference match of the season. The match was previously scheduled for 2 p.m., and has since been moved up to noon.
“It's a nice opportunity for us to play a MPSF team, so it's really a chance for us to validate what our ranking has been up to this point in the season,” Walton added. “I know for our guys the match is meaningful in that anytime they are playing against a west coast opponent and anytime you get them in your gym, it's a great opportunity and you want to take advantage of that. I know we are going to have a good crowd in the arena and people will be out supporting us and they should be really excited about seeing UC Irvine.”
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