The Cardinals are getting a taste of East Coast volley this weekend, and so far they like the flavor.
Ball State defeated New Jersey Institute in four sets (29-27, 28-26, 20-25, 25-16). The third set loss was the first set the Cardinals have dropped this season.
Senior outside hitter Greg Herceg paced the Cardinals once again, with a match-leading 20 kills. Herceg added two service aces and seven digs to round out another impressive night. Coach Joel Walton attributes Herceg’s success to meeting opportunities that are afforded to him.
“Our setters are starting to give him confident and consistent sets,” Walton said. “Then Greg has been able to take advantage of teams gambling towards the middle to stop our middles.”
One of those middles is senior Matt Leske, Ball State's only all-conference player from a season ago. The other is junior Kevin Owens, who connected on 11 kills along with five blocks. Coming into the match, New Jersey Institute had surrendered big numbers to the middle hitters of opposing teams, so Owens was in the spotlight already.
The man behind those kills was junior setter Graham Mcllvaine. M,cllavaine posted impressive numbers himself, compiling a match-high 51 assists and 10 digs, for his first double-double of the year.
Defensively the Cardinals held the Highlanders to a 9 percent hitting percentage. In the initial game plan, Walton said the team would need to have well-formed blocking sets to stop the various attacks the Highlanders are capable of throwing out.
“On tape we saw that they like to hit a lot of tip and roll shots,” Walton said. “I thought our guys did a great job of taking those away.”
Senior libero Tommy Rouse led Ball State in digs with 15 and was a key factor in limiting NJIT to just one player with double digit kills.
Walton saw a lot of room for improvement, despite coming away with the win.
“We served poorly tonight, and had a lot of errors,” Walton said. “We gave a lot of opportunities to the home team, and very well could be still be playing a fifth set.”
Well the match was completed in just four games, two of them went to overtime, not something a team wants with another match less than 24 hours away. The Cardinals will make the hour-and-a-half bus ride to Fairfield, Conn. tomorrow for their match against Sacred Heart.
Sacred Heart played a match of its own tonight against another Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association foe, IPFW, and lost in five sets.
Fatigue will most certainly play a factor in tomorrow’s match, but tonight The Cardinals focus is on eating at the team’s favorite east coast restaurant, Tops Diner.
“We’ve ate their the past couple years,” Walton said. “And the guys are really excited for it.
“I suppose they played well enough to earn it tonight.”
Saturday the Cardinals will break down film of the Pioneers, and arrive at the gym early enough to have a long warm-up before their match at 7 p.m.
