A kill by David Ryan Vander Meer turned into a responding kill by Jay Petty.
A service error by Matt Gallik went without consequence with a follow-up attack error by Kevin Owens.
Ian Karbiener made up for a crucial mistake by putting away the very next point in the match.
What started as a competitive overtime in set one between Ball State and No. 6 Lewis slowly turned into 18 tied points, the highest scoring game of the season in the NCAA and in the rally scoring era in Ball State program history.
It wouldn't end with a celebration from the crowd inside Worthen Arena.
With the score tied at 42, a kill by Greg Petty over the middle of the net and a subsequent block on Shane Witmer's attack ended it at 44-42 in Lewis' favor.
It was finally over. And it had only been one set.
"That's the longest set I've ever seen," Owens said. "I don't know. We had a couple times where we were receiving to win, a couple times where we were serving to win. Both teams were playing hard. Both teams wanted it. [There were] just a few plays that didn't go our way."
The 46-minute set seemingly sapped the energy out of the Cardinals, who went on to lose the match 3-0 (44-42, 25-19, 25-15) and fall to 5-4 on the season and a winless 0-2 in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.
A declining offensive output combined with an inability to stop Lewis' attack plagued Ball State all afternoon. The team finished with a .057 attack percentage and allowed a .302 success rate on the opposing side of the court.
All three of Ball State's starting outside attackers — Larry Wrather, Jamion Hartley and Witmer — hit a negative percentage in the match.
The offense became so stagnant that coach Joel Walton was forced to insert Dan Wichmann into the lineup at setter over Graham McIlvaine in the middle of set two.
"Some of it is actually attackers and some of it [was that] there were some sets that weren't ideal," Walton said. "It was kind of a team effort. You win as a team and you lose as a team. There's no one person you can really point at, especially when you lose a game 25-15. That's showing a lot of different things failed. We just didn't perform well in many areas."
The poor performance on offense wasn't Walton's biggest issue concerning his team's play, however. His focus turned to Ball State's poor serving.
"That was kind of the story of the match," Walton said. "Say what you want. I mean, we put 88 percent of our serves in play, they put 77 percent of theirs. They missed a whole lot more than we did. I think [it was] a function of our weak serves. We've got to be more aggressive when we step behind the line."
Even with two losses to its first two conference opponents in Loyola and Lewis, Ball State will have a one-match break from the MIVA with a home match against non-conference opponent Lindenwood at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
For updates on the men's volleyball team, follow @andrewmishler on Twitter.
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