Playing in his final regular season home match, outside attacker Todd Chamberlain had the senior night he had always wanted.
Chamberlain finished with a match-high 17 kills as the No. 15 Ball State University men's volleyball team defeated St. Francis University 30-25, 30-18, 23-30, 30-26 on Saturday at Worthen Arena.
"It's special," Chamberlain said. "I had a good time tonight. It was really special."
Chamberlain led Ball State in kills in two of the four games against St. Francis, including having six kills and a .625 attack percentage in the first game.
The outside attacker said he was successful in the team's final regular season match because the Cardinals' middles were able to draw blockers away from him and setter Ethan Pheister was able to make good sets to the outside. Chamberlain also said he had extra motivation with it being senior night.
"It's my last match of my career here at least for my regular season, so I might have a little bit more bounce in my step tonight than I would normally," he said.
Starting for the third consecutive season, Chamberlain finished the regular season with a team-high 282 kills and a 3.27 kills per game average. The all-conference player also moved into fifth place this weekend for the most career kills in program history during the rally scoring era with 722 kills.
With his parents in attendance to watch his senior night match, Chamberlain said he was happy with his performance.
"It's always good to go out on a good note," he said. "I felt like I played a good overall match."
Ball State (16-9, 6-4 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) finished the match with a .308 attack percentage - more than .020 percentage points higher than its season average. It also had a match-high .500 attack percentage in the 12-point victory in game two.
Coach Joel Walton said he was pleased with his team's offensive performance Saturday. He also said this is the type of performance Ball State needs for its offense and Chamberlain as it enters the conference tournament next week.
"Todd has been playing very well as we enter this most important part of the season, which is critical because he is our team offensive leader," Walton said. "We want him to be in sync and on all cylinders."
Chamberlain was one of four seniors to play in the senior night match against the Red Flashes (14-14, 7-5 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association).
Middle attacker Matt McCarthy had five kills and seven blocks in the win. This was the second consecutive match the all-conference player started after missing most of the season with a stress fracture in his back.
Libero Mark Termion started in place of Billy Ebel for the first start of the season and had a team-high 11 digs. In addition, middle attacker Ben Irwin started his second match this season and had a career-high eight kills before leaving midway through the third game.
Walton said he was happy all of his senior players were able to play well on their senior night. The coach also said this win was critical after No. 7 Penn State University swept Ball State on Friday and with the MIVA Tournament about to start.
"It's important. For no other reason than the mental standpoint of the game and our guys' confidence going into the tournament," Walton said. "You don't want a loss, especially against a team I'm sure everyone in our program feels we should beat."
The Cardinals will enter the conference tournament as the No. 3 seed.
Ball State will play its quarterfinal match against last-place Quincy University at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Worthen Arena. If Ball State wins that match it will play No. 12 Lewis University in the semifinals on April 30 in Columbus, Ohio.
Entering the season ranked No. 12 in the preseason poll, Walton said this regular season has been filled with the team almost being able to get marquee wins as it lost four conference matches in five games. Walton said, though, he thinks his team is capable of winning the program's first conference tournament in seven seasons.
"If we roll through the conference tournament and make it into the NCAA [Tournament] we become another Ball State team that did," Walton said. "If we don't it's going to be a pretty disappointing season and one we will look back and feel like we were close and missed opportunities."
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