Men’s Volleyball Crowned Back-to-Back MIVA Regular Season Champions

Saturday, April 8

Muncie, Ind.

7 pm

Ball State University

18-8,11-3MIVA

Purdue Fort Wayne

16-12,7-7MIVA

Purdue Fort Wayne

Ball St.

Men’s Volleyball Crowned Back-to-Back MIVA Regular Season Champions

April 08, 2023 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

MUNCIE, Ind. - Ball State men's volleyball (18-8, 11-3 MIVA) defeated Purdue Fort Wayne (16-12, 7-7 MIVA) 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-22) Saturday night in Worthen Arena, earning its second-straight Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) regular season crown.

This is the first time the Cardinals have won back-to-back MIVA regular season titles since the 1996 and 1997 seasons.

Ball State also shares tonight's crown with Loyola Chicago and Ohio State. It is the first three-way tie for the MIVA regular season championship since 1996 and just the second in the history of the conference.

The Cardinals will be the No. 1 seed in next week's MIVA Tournament quarterfinals where Ball State will host No. 8 Quincy Saturday, April 15. First serve is at 7 pm ET. BSU won the three-way tiebreaker against Loyola Chicago (11-3) and Ohio State (11-3) for the top spot in the tourney.

Ball State has won six-straight MIVA matches to put itself in contention tonight for another MIVA regular season championship and it was clear from start to finish that the Cardinals were on a mission to do just that.

The first set started as a back-and-forth affair which was to be expected in a rivalry match. Kaleb Jenness then served up four-straight points to give Ball State the upper hand with a 10-8 lead over the Mastodons. After that, the Cardinals remained in control to close out the first set, 25-17, off a Bryce Behrendt ace.

Set two pretty much mimicked the opening frame with Ball State jumping out to a 10-6 early lead after kills from Dyer Ball and Wil McPhillips. Some nice plays from veteran Felix Egharevba put the Cardinals in position to go up 2-0 in the match as Ball State continued its face paced offense to allowing BSU to take set two, 25-17 which came off a McPhillips kill.

After the break, Purdue Fort Wayne tried to redeem itself by keeping the third set close with eight ties and two lead changes.

Ball State continued to fight and was resilient to not let the match go into a fourth set. The set was knotted 20-20, but a PFW service error and then an ace from Behrendt gave Ball State the 22-20 advantage.

Jenness and McPhillips came through offensively with some much-needed kills to make the score 24-22. Purdue Fort Wayne's Mark Frazier's hitting error gave Ball State the win and the MIVA regular season title.

Offensively, Jennes led Ball State with a 15-kill performance off 33 swings for a .333 hitting percentage. David Flores dished out 33 assists and Behrendt had three service aces. Jenness also had eight defensive digs and Egharevba led in total blocks with six.

Fans can purchase tickets to the game by calling the Stoops Buick/GMC Ticket Center at 888.BSU.TICKET or 765.285.1474 to join the Cardinal Family inside Worthen Arena!