Park played its first NCAA Division I opponent in four years in a match against Ball State on Saturday, and it certainly didn't forget that fact by the end of the night.
Ball State only needed an 68 minutes, its quickest match of the season, to sweep visiting Park 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-20) and improve to a 10-5 (2-3 MIVA) on the season.
Like Ball State's win over Mount Olive the previous night, several bench players made significant impacts throughout the match.
Freshman outside attacker Matt Sutherland came onto the court early in the match to hit .222 on two kills and nine attacks. He also added five blocks, promping coach Joel Walton to praise his defensive effort following the contest.
"I love seeing the way that [Sutherland} blocks," Walton said. "It's nice to know that Matt can get out on the court and block, attack a pretty high level for us."
Sutherland replaced freshman outside attacker Shane Witmer in the first set after the latter hit two errors on four attacks, adding to an offensive slump of hitting at .000 or less in four of Ball State's past five matches.
Walton said while Sutherland is starting to shine both offensively and defensively, Witmer's passing skills can't be ignored.
"Probably ball control is what's seperating [Sutherland] and Shane Witmer right now at this moment," Walton said. "When we get into the matches where we play against teams that serve really well, we're probably going to continue to lean toward Shane."
Junior right-side attacker Jamion Hartley and senior outside attacker Jeff Aucoin came off the bench for extended playing time as well.
After being limited to only three combined sets in the past two matches, Hartley played in the final two sets against Park and swung well at the net to earn five kills on 10 attacks and a .300 attack percentage.
Hartley even silenced any critics of his defense with seven digs and three blocks, proving his worth in both the front row and the back row.
Aucoin received his most extended playing time of the season since starting against George Mason on Jan. 14 with three sets of play against Park. He totaled one kill, four digs and a service ace.
"It was nice to finally be on the court at home," Aucoin said.
Following a week off, Ball State will head into a lengthy series of road matches for the next two months, starting with Cal State Northridge on March 7.
For a team that already went 2-3 through its first five conference matches, it should be an even more significant challenge than the first half of the season.
"It's going to lot of hard work," Aucoin said. "We have a bunch of tough teams on the road now and we already had them at home. Now it's on the road at their house, so we've got to take care of business."
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