Within 24 hours the Ball State men’s volleyball team has won six out of eight sets, and brought its overall record to 3-0., and completing its weekend’s east coast sweep. Ball State defeated Sacred Heart (0-3) in four sets (25-18, 25-27, 25-16, 29-27), dropping only the second set.
Walking towards the locker room after the match, coach Joel Walton said that senior libero Tommy Rouse posed the question to him, “when was the last time we were 3-0?”
The answer is 2006. The Cardinals started that season by rattling off 11 straight victories and finished the season at 21-7. This year presents a unique opportunity for Ball State to be the last remaining unbeaten team in Division I-II men’s volleyball.
In their match against the Pioneers the Cardinals saw the majority of their points come from their middle attackers senior Matt Leske and junior Kevin Owens, who had seven and eight kills respectively. Owens’ eight kills led the team, showing much more parity in scoring than the Cardinals have been accustomed to thus far in the infant stages of their season.
Senior outside attacker Greg Herceg came into the match leading Ball State in kills with 37, but registered only six against the Pioneers. His struggles tonight led to Walton subbing a plethora of guys in and out trying to find the right line-up.
“We rotated a lot of guys tonight, and we were just looking for the combination that worked,” Walton said. “We saw a lot of success at times, like in the first and third sets, and at other times we really struggled to get something going.”
The middles for Ball State also came up big for the Cardinals on defense, with two solo blocks and a match-high eight assisted blocks for Leske and a match-high three solo blocks and six assisted blocks for Owens, to go along with the team’s 19.5 blocks.
“I thought our offense was a little, but our middles played well,” said Walton. “Not just on offense, but especially on defense.”
Senior setter Graham Mcllvaine was a marquee component to the Cardinals’ win as well, registering 37 assists, and helping six Cardinals connect on at least five kills.
Walton stressed after the NJIT match that the team had committed too many service errors (22), and let the Highlanders stay in the match because of those mistakes. Tonight the Cardinals lowered that number down to 12.
“We served around 88-percent tonight, and that is right at the plateau where I want us to be at,” Walton said.
Both teams showed fatigued, both having played matches the night before, with Sacred Heart falling to IPFW in five sets. In the fourth and final set, the Cardinals couldn’t seem to put the Pioneers away, needing four match points to finally put the dagger through.
“Sacred Heart played like a home team with its back up against the wall, they just kept fighting until the end,” Walton said.
Junior Jason Kinney highlighted the Pioneers attack with a match leading 16 kills. Kinney was an unknown, nearly unscout-able player to the Cardinals. On the Pioneers roster, Kinney is listed as a setter, but has taken on the role of outside hitter this season. And with the Pioneers only having played one scout-able, Kinney’s tendencies and abilities were basically a mystery to the Cardinals.
Kinney’s performance made up for a couple Sacred Heart cornerstones, junior outside hitter Enzo Mackenzie and redshirt junior right side hitter Nick Hunt. Walton said he saw that both were hampered with injuries, and speculates that the Pioneers are trying to get them both healthy for conference play, and expects to see both when they come to Worthen in March for the Don Shondell Active Ankle Challenge.
The Cardinals will enjoy a quick 11-hour bus ride back to Muncie tomorrow, bringing their weekend total of hours spent on a bus to 23 and half hours. The team will get Sunday off, but on Monday they will still have weights and a film session on Martin Luther King Day.
The Cardinals will be in action next weekend on Jan. 25 in Mount Olive, N.C. to play Mount Olive and then on Jan. 26 to play Barton in Wilson, N.C., only 10-and-a-half-hours away.
