Men’s Volleyball Rounds Out Regular Season with Two Home Matches

Thursday, April 6

Muncie, Ind.

7:30 pm

Ball State University

Lewis

Photo by: Ball State University Creative Services

Men’s Volleyball Rounds Out Regular Season with Two Home Matches

April 05, 2017 | Men's Volleyball

Match Notes

Game One
13 Ball State vs. No. 7 Lewis
Thursday, April 6 (7:30 p.m.)
Muncie, Ind.
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/ballstate/mvball/
Live Video: http://ballstatesports.com/watch/?Live=68&type=Live

Game Two
13 Ball State vs. No. 10 Loyola-Chicago
Saturday, April 8 (7:30 p.m.)
Muncie, Ind.
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/ballstate/mvball/
Live Video: http://ballstatesports.com/watch/?Live=68&type=Live

MUNCIE, Ind. – The No. 13 Ball State men's volleyball team rounds out the regular season with two home conference matches Thursday (April 6) and Saturday (April 8). Thursday's match will be a showdown between the Cardinals and No. 7 Lewis. The last match will be a fight with the Loyola Ramblers. Saturday's match will honor the six Cardinal seniors prior to the match. Both matches are set to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Last year's meetings:

Ball State took on Lewis twice last year, splitting the matches. The first meeting in Muncie went to the Cardinals, 3-2 (25-23, 25-22, 17-25, 16-25, 15-12). Mike Scannell led the team with 14 kills in front of the crowd in Worthen. Brendan Surane tallied 13 kills, four service aces and nine digs. Mitch Weiler added 12 kills, seven blocks and 10 digs. Alex Pia knocked down seven blocks while Matt Walsh added six. Adam Wessel led the team with 12 digs.

Lewis swept the Cardinals in the second meeting (25-22, 25-19, 25-13). Surane led the way with 10 kills, four blocks and one service ace. Edgardo Cartagena tallied four kills and added five digs.

Ball State and Lewis met earlier this season and the Flyers took the victory 3-1 (27-25, 21-25, 17-25, 17-25). Surane lead the Cardinals with 17 kills, three blocks and one service ace. Matt Szews knocked down 10 kills along with a tallying a team high 10 digs and four blocks.

The first time Ball State met the Ramblers last season was when Loyola came to Worthen Arena in February. The Cardinals took the match, 3-1 (26-24, 25- 23, 20-25, 25-23). Scannell had a team high 11 kills along with one service ace and two assists. Surane and Weiler both knocked down seven kills. Walsh and Pia both tallied four blocks while Wessel led the way defensively with 18 digs.

The two teams met again in April last year, this time the match went to Loyola, 3-1 (25- 23, 27-25, 27-29, 25-17). Scannell and Weiler both led the team in kills with 12. Walsh knocked down five blocks while Weiler had two. Wessel had a team high 12 digs and Weiler tallied eight.

The Cardinals traveled to Loyola earlier this season and fell to the Ramblers 3-0 (25-22, 25-11, 25-23). Szews led the team with 12 kills and seven digs. Walsh knocked down five kills and had the team's lone service ace. Anthony Lebryk led the team in blocks with three.

Cardinal Facts:

Going into this week's matches, the Cardinals are first in the conference in digs per set with 9.19. Ball State is also second in the MIVA in kills per set (12.33), second in assists per set (11.44) and second in digs (855). The Cardinals' .273 hitting percentage puts them third in the conference.

Edgardo Cartagena and Blake Reardon both had big performances last week. Cartagena led the Cardinals in kills with 11 for a .381 hitting percentage in the win over Lindenwood. Cartagena also added seven digs. Reardon was right behind with a career high 10 kills.

Sophomore libero Adam Wessel sits at fifth in the MIVA with 2.06 digs per set. Wessel has 107 digs and 21 assists on the season.

In the record books:

Freshman Matt Szews leads the team with 311 total kills, 3.46 kills per set and a .247 hitting percentage. His 311 total kills and 3.46 kills per set place him third in the MIVA in both categories. He also has a team high 35 service aces and has .39 aces per set, third in the conference. Szews made his way into the record books with a .247 hitting percentage, placing him in 20th.

Preseason All-MIVA selection Matt Walsh sits at second in the MIVA with .443 hitting percentage. He is also third in the conference with 1.18 blocks per set. Due to his performances in the month of March, Walsh was a finalist for Off the Block National Player of the Month. Walsh's name can also be found all over the Ball State volleyball career record books (during rally scoring). He is sixth in attack percentage (.400), sixth in blocks per set (1.23), third in block assists (319), fifth in total blocks (351), 10th in service aces (59), 10th in solo blocks (32)and 20th in total career kills (498).

Senior Alex Pia also has stamped his name in the record books (during rally scoring). Pia is 10th in career blocks per set with 1.01 through 195 sets. He is also 15th in career block assists (190) and 16th in total career blocks (197).

Senior preseason All-MIVA selection Brendan Surane moved into seventh in school history (during rally scoring) with 737 kills. Surane is also 17th (during rally scoring) in career solo blocks with 27 along with a fifth place spot in service aces (66). He is also 15th with a career attack percentage of .274, 14th with 2.26 kills per set, 17th in block assists (175) and 15th in total blocks (202).

Connor Gross took his place in the record books, sitting at sixth (during rally scoring) in career assists with 1,164 through 127 sets. He is also 19th in digs per set with 1.46. Last week, he had 92 assists, 10.22 assists per set along with 19 digs and five blocks. The senior setter has 945 assists so far this season. He averages 10.38 assists per set, placing him second in the conference.

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