No. 12 Men's Volleyball Drops First Match Out West to No. 4 Long Beach State

Friday, March 3

Long Beach, CA

10 pm ET / 7 pm PST

Ball State University

10-6,4-2MIVA

Long Beach State University

9-2,0-0Big West

Ball St.

Long Beach St.

Photo by: Ball State University Creative Services

No. 12 Men's Volleyball Drops First Match Out West to No. 4 Long Beach State

March 04, 2023 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

LONG BEACH, Calif. - The Ball State men's volleyball team's late comeback was cut short after Long Beach State won the fourth set taking the 3-1 victory from the Cardinals Friday night at the Walter Pyramid.

With the loss, the 12th-ranked Cardinals fell to 10-6 while No. 4 Long Beach State improved their overall record to 9-2.

Ball State played close to Long Beach State throughout the first set as both teams went point-for-point to begin the match. The Beach began to pull away from the Cardinals 15-12 at the media timeout. The Cardinals couldn't stop Long Beach State's middle attackers as the Beach were able to take set one, 25-19.

Long Beach State used over an 80 percent side out percentage to take an early 10-6 edge over Ball State in the second frame. The Cardinals though went on a service run from Jakub Wiercinski along with a big block assist from Kaleb Jenness and Vanis Buckholz that brought BSU back and allowed the Cardinals to take the 11-10 lead. After that, Long Beach State used strong serving and some clutch plays to rally back and take set two, 25-17.

Both teams played the most even in the third set as the Cardinals were trying to keep their hopes alive after falling behind 2-0 in the match. Ball State had the 4-point advantage late in the frame (22-18). Felix Egharevba's kill allowed BSU to win set three, 25-21.

Long Beach State used its home court advantage to jump out to a quick 19-11 advantage in set four over BSU. The Cardinals tried to rally back but the Beach would go on to take the set (25-15) and the match.

For the game, Jenness finished the night with 16 kills while Tinaishe Ndavazocheva turned in an 11-kill performance. Jenness also had 10 digs and three blocks.

The Ball State men's volleyball team continues its spring break trip out west Sunday when it plays at UC San Diego. First serve is at 5 pm ET.