Freshman outside attacker Marcus Imwalle said his family picked a good match to attend.
Imwalle had about 20 family members travel to Ball State University to watch him get a career-high 13 kills in a four game win against No. 8 Ohio State University on Friday.
"The last couple of times a lot of people came up I haven't played very well," he said. "I just wanted to show them what I could do."
Prior to the Ohio State match, Imwalle had more than 10 kills in one of the Cardinals' last seven matches.
Coach Joel Walton said the Cardinals offense was successful Friday because Imwalle became Ball State's third offensive option.
Along with Imwalle, Ball State had two players finish with more than 10 kills. Outside attacker Patrick Durbin had a match-high 22 kills and outside attacker Todd Chamberlain had a season-high 16 kills.
"Marcus was a little more aggressive [Friday] and we needed that," Walton said.
Imwalle said one thing that helped him against Ohio State was working on his blocks and serves with coach Steve Shondell in practice.
"I've been critiquing my game for a while now," Imwalle said. "I tried to play my game and loosen up."
Imwalle had a team-high three serving aces against Ohio State, including his final ace with the score 29-29 in the fourth game. On the next point, he had the match-winning serve as Ohio State had a receiving error.
"In practice every time we get a service ace [coach Kevin] Furn[ish] is always like 'so, prove it,'" Imwalle said. "I went back there and went to serve and I thinking just put it in, just put it in. I went up to swing and it completely missed my hand and I was like oh [no]. But then I looked up and it was all good."
Ball State had 1,873 people in attendance Friday, its largest crowd in more than two seasons.
Imwalle said his family in attendance was extra motivation, especially with them living in Ohio and having Buckeye loyalties.
"A lot of my family are big Ohio State fans, but obviously not in volleyball," he said. "They were all rooting for Ball State. They all had their Ball State clothes on."
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