Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
17-5 (9-1MIVA)
UC Irvine
7-14 (5-11MPSF)
Surane and Pia Propel Men?s Volleyball To 3-2 Win
March 20, 2016 | Men's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. – The No. 10 Ball State (17-5, 9-1) men's volleyball team welcomed west coast foe No. 13 UC Irvine (7-14, 5-11) to Worthen Arena on Sunday afternoon for non-conference action. In the 3-2 (25-23, 29-27, 19-25, 22-25, 15-12) battle towards a Ball State victory, junior Brendan Surane led the Cardinals with his season-high of 22 kills, while junior Alex Pia held down the defensive lines with a season-high of nine total blocks.
“It wasn't a real pretty match either way. The message from our bench was basically that this was a great opportunity to give everything you've got left,” Ball State men's volleyball head coach Joel Walton said. “The team needed to dig deep and find any motivation they could find to push forward and to go out and play a good game.”
The match was opened up by the Cardinals soaring to a 4-1 lead, although the Anteaters closed the gap to tie it up at 23 later in the set. It was Pia who paired up first with Edgardo Cartagena, followed by Surane, to mark back-to-back Ball State blocks to close out the set 25-23.
The second set was even closer than the first, as the non-conference foes fought through 18 tie scores and three lead changes on its way to battling into extra points. The first to strike towards the Ball State victory was Surane, making the score 28-27 in favor of the Cardinals, while senior setter Hiago Garchet teamed up with sophomore Matt Walsh for a block assist to shut down the UC Irvine attack for a 29-27 final.
“We weren't getting a lot of offensive plays going in the beginning but Hiago was giving me balls that I could do something with,” Surane said. “They also had smaller blockers, so I was taking advantage of them whenever I could and that amounted to a lot of kills.”
The Anteaters avoided the sweep by clinching the fourth set by a score of 25-19. Although the Cardinals hit a .125 attack percentage, UC Irvine pushed back with a .423 effort. The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation team also led outright and only sacrificed three tie scores, in the process of closing the blocking gap to 8.5-7.0 in favor of the Cardinals after the third. The game was closed out by a block assist by UC Irvine's Andrew Benz and Karl Apfelbach, despite Ball State reaching for attacks in the extended rally.
UC Irvine pushed back and forced the decisive fifth set by claiming the fourth game 25-22. In it, the pair fought through 10 tie scores and two lead changes, although the Cardinals came up short of the Anteaters .212 hitting percentage with its own .192. The game was speckled with just four Ball State attacking errors, although UC Irvine committed eight in spite of earning the set win.
“We want to take advantage of when we have the opportunity to play Irvine, as they are a very talented team. We came out, played our game and they did too,” Pia said. “I feel this is a team that is confident, and it wasn't just my effort or Surane's effort, it was the team in the fifth set. We're used to five sets. It's just about our mentality starting, that's all it comes down to. It's entertaining.”
The fifth set was no different from any of the other games of the day, as the team's were tied up at 1, 2, 3, and 5 point markers, before pulling ahead to seal the win by 15-12. It was Garchet and Pia teaming up for the final block assist that propelled the Cardinals to its third victory in a row.
“I like that our guys fought into the fifth game. I think Brendan Surane came in big for us at a lot for different moments, taking good swings, so that was important,” Coach Walton went on. “Our middles had good offense tonight, Hiago Garchet found our middles in good places and they were able to help us keep going.”
The win was in large part due to the success of the Ball State blocking game at critical points, as the Cardinals posted 11.5 to UC Irvine's 11.0. Over the course of the five-setter, the team's fought through a total of 39 tie scores and eight lead changes.
“Any time we get an MPSF team in our gym we want to take advantage of that opportunity. It has been a rare occasion in recent years,” Coach Walton added. “We are going to try to play Irvine as much as we can, but I want to play many of the west coast teams, not just play Irvine each year. We are going to have anywhere from two to four matches each season where we can be playing non-conference matches against MSPF.”
Looking ahead, the Cardinals will round out action at home as it welcomes Ohio State on Friday, March 25, followed by McKendree on Saturday, March 26. Both matches will be Mid-Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Association matchups, while the McKendree match will feature a special recognition session for Senior Night.
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State men's volleyball action, follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateMVB on Twitter and Instagram.
