Win over Lindenwood keeps Ball State unbeaten

With the score 14-12 in the fifth set, sophomore Shane Witmer held the ball in his hands ready to serve the potential match point.

Serving has been a weakness for Ball State all season, but Witmer lofted his ball up, made solid contact giving his serve top spin, and saw it hit the floor with all six Lindenwood players looking helplessly on.

Witmer’s ace was the cap of a roller coaster night that saw the Cardinals down the Lions in the max five sets (25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 23-25, 15-12).

Ball State started the night, as they had ended Friday night against Quincy, in dominant fashion. The Cardinals hit .321 and were led by freshman outside hitter Jack Lesure’s four kills.

On defense Ball State was stifling, holding Lindenwood to a -.036 hitting clip, and some of that was due to the home court advantage of playing a team that has never been to Worthen Arena.  

“The game one dominance was probably Lindenwood feeling out Worthen, they made a lot of attacking errors, and then found their rhythm as the match went on,” coach Joel Walton said.

In the second set the Lions found a groove, and subsequently discombobulated the Cardinals.

The success Ball State had in the first half stayed on the West end of the court, and Lindenwood’s Michael Adams and Colin Hackworth recorded five and four kills respectively.

A lot of the Lions' offensive success came from the serves they were fielding from the Cardinals. Ball State had just one service error, but lofted mainly floating serves over the net, allowing Lindenwood to stay in their system throughout the set.

Senior outside hitter Jamion Hartley checked in at the start of the third set for the first time in the match.

“Greg was just struggling offensively, and Jamion was fresh and ready to go,” Walton said.

With Hartley in the entire team seemed to be lifted, and started to revert back to the offense they demonstrated in the first set.

“My only thought was, ‘I need to bring offense,’” Hartley said. “I just wanted to bring some energy to the court.”

With the offense clicking, a jovial spirit rippled throughout the Cardinals on the court, and it looked like they were going to wrap in up in four sets.

Ball State had momentum in the fourth set and was leading 12-10 when splintering noise echoed throughout the arena.

The head referee’s podium had broken and left him hanging on the padded sides.

The match was delayed for about 20 minutes while a replacement podium was found. After the break Ball State looked sluggish and never got back into a comfortable pace.

“I definitely think the delay hurt us,” senior setter Dan Wichmann said. “It’s tough to stay focused for long periods of time when you’re not playing.”

All of the sudden the match looked like it was certainly headed for a fifth set, and the buoyant personalities on the Cardinals locked in and the laughs halted.

The Lions closed out the fourth set,and sent the Cardinals into their first fifth set of the season.

In the fifth set neither team backed down. There were plethora of long rallies that had players on both sides diving every which way.

Eventually the Cardinals were able to string together a couple points, and give themselves a little cushion to allow Witmer to knock down his match-winning ace.

After completing another weekend sweep Ball State remains the only undefeated team in the nation, and now sit atop the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association conference.