After a week of focusing on finishing, the Ball State University men's volleyball team did just that in Saturday's match.
In the quarterfinals of the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association tournament No. 3 seed Ball State swept No. 6 seed Quincy University 30-18, 30-13, 30-28.
Coach Joel Walton said he liked the way the Cardinals came together in the first two games despite trouble in game three.
"Our offense was clicking, we served them really tough and kept them out of system," Walton said.
The Cardinals finished the match with a .265 attack percentage while holding the Hawks to a .022 attack percentage for the match, including a negative attack percentage in game two. The Cardinals had a .452 attack percentage in game one.
"Really [we] just smothered them defensively with our block," Walton said.
Ball State had nine team blocks in the match while Quincy had four and a half.
Outside attacker Todd Chamberlain had a match-high 14 kills, for a .216 attack percentage. He finished with a .545 attack percentage in game one.
Middle attacker Andy Nelson hit for 1.000 after the first two games with five kills. He ended the match with a .500 attack percentage, a team high along with the other starting middle attacker, Matt McCarthy.
In games one and two the Cardinals had a combined seven attack errors. In game three they had 10. The errors throughout the third game contributed to the late win, Walton said.
"One of the reasons we didn't play very well in the third game was because we didn't keep our middles involved," Walton said.
Nelson and McCarthy both had a zero attack percentage in the third game.
The Cardinals trailed the Hawks most of the third game. Ball State was behind from a tied score of four to four until a kill by Chamberlain put the team back up at 25-24.
"First two games we played real well. The third game they played a little bit tougher and we maybe let up some," Chamberlain said.
Ball State advances to the semifinals of the MIVA tournament where it will play No. 2 seed Lewis University at 5 p.m. Thursday at Ohio State University.
Ball State and Lewis split the two regular season matches.
The loss this season to Lewis put a chip on the team's shoulder, Nelson said. This season's lost to the Flyers was the first for the Cardinals since 2003.
"They're a very good team - we're going to prepare like heck this week," Walton said. "We can't even begin to look past them because it is going to be a dogfight of a match."
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