In Ball State and Grand Canyon’s second match in as many days, one team came out with a high intensity level, cohesive passing and a locked in mentality. It was not the previously nation’s last undefeated team; it was Grand Canyon which had just suffered five set loss to Ball State the day before.
Whether it was two players looking at each other and then the ball hitting the ground or putting serves into the net, the Cardinals never looked comfortable nor confident. Ball State played from behind all night, never leading in the first or third set and sparingly in the second, losing in a 3-0 sweep (20-25, 24-26, 17-25).
“I think we were definitely a little bit off,” coach Joel Walton said. “Our guys backed down a little bit, and that is disappointing to say. Grand Canyon just looked hungrier.”
Ball State and Grand Canyon seem to have a rivalry beginning after recent matches. Ball State knocked Grand Canyon out of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association conference tournament last season, and then the words that were exchanged in Saturday night’s five-set match between the two teams showed the matchup is becoming competitive.
“It’s not typically a rivalry, but I think it’s going to become one because of the talking through the net, and some things that were said after the match,” senior outside hitter Greg Herceg said.
Herceg paced the Cardinals for the second night in a row with his match-leading 18 kills, and is in contention to win the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association’s Offensive Player of the Week by recording 5.38 kills per set.
Herceg continuously tried to make his success contagious whether it was leading by example or with vocal force. But despite Herceg’s attempts, Grand Canyon never looked worried or out of control.
Grand Canyon didn’t have one player explode for big numbers, it had a number of different players do different things effectively. Ball State’s usually reliable defense struggled with Grand Canyon’s attack and only recorded eight blocks as team.
Walton tried to shuffle things around, and give his team some kind of spark. Graham McIlvaine was subbed in for Dan Wichmann at setter, and Shane Witmer, Jack Lesure, Urim Demirovski and Matt Sutherland were all given chances in the season-long search for someone to compliment Herceg from the left side.
“We fell short in a lot of areas, especially our left sides being able to generate some sort of offense both in-system and out-of-system,” Walton said. “We really wanted to get our left-sides going, and that just didn’t happen.
“We need different players to step up in big moments, and there was definitely a lacking desire tonight, and that’s something the guys have got to be ready to fix this week.”
The loss will put Ball State’s chances of being ranked in the top 15 on hold for now, but the team hopes it will motivate the team for the rest of the season.
“Hopefully the guys are pretty upset about this loss,” Herceg said. “It’s more motivation especially for conference matches to go out and win and show everyone who we really belong going into the postseason.”
Ball State will have a chance sooner than usual with a quick turnaround as IPFW will come to Muncie on Wednesday for a mid-week match, the first for the team this season.
