This season Ball State men’s volleyball head coach Joel Walton has emphasized that serving well doesn’t have to mean getting aces.
When the team knocked off No. 12 IPFW 19-25, 25-18, 25-19 and 25-23, most of its success started behind the serving line.
“If we’re putting a lollipop serve over the net, then they’re going to make us look pretty bad out there,” Ball State middle attacker Matt Leske said. “They’re a good offense team but we got really aggressive and it helped a lot.”
As the match began, Ball State struggled to slow down IPFW’s fast paced attack. Serves slowly floated over the net, making IPFW’s serve receive painless. The easy serves allowed for perfect passes to setter Omar Rivera, who tallied 16 assists in the first set.
Rivera was unpredictable at first, keeping Ball State’s block off guard. The Cardinals struggled to deflect attacks, which quickly found open holes in the defense.
Without a strong serve in the first set, Ball State quickly fell apart.
When the second set began, the No. 1 blocking team in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association picked up, much due to improved serving.
“We were finally able to get them out of system and it made their offense so much easier to read,” Leske said.
Ball State finished with four aces, two of them from setter Graham McIlvaine.
With Ball State’s serves forcing IPFW defenders to move, passes weren’t as crisp. Rivera, who was electric to begin the game, started setting his attackers into two and three man blocks. Leske tallied a solo block and IPFW continued to fire attacks into a
Ball State’s defensive wall, consistently sending attacks back to IPFW.
The Mastodons finished the match with 156 attacks to the Cardinals 125. The difference is largely due to the visitors having attacks rejected, allowing them another chance to get the ball over.
Leske would lead Ball State with 2 solo blocks, while middle attacker Kevin Owens added one.
With Ball State’s serve in a rhythm and IPFW’s offense hurting, the Cardinals attack took over. During the third set, outside attacker Larry Wrather fired an attack across the net that deflected off an IPFW player’s chest and flew out-of-bounds. With the crowd cheering, Wrather calmly walked back to the serving line with a smile of satisfaction on his face.
He finished the match with seven kills, while outside attacker Marcin Niemczewski led with 13. Leske tallied six, while Owens had seven, including five in the fourth set, which proved to be crucial due to the close finish.
“There were some individual blocks from Leske and Owens that couldn’t have come at a better time,” Walton said. “They were on the game plan and looking for a moment for when IPFW would set its middle, then taking the right shot in that moment.”
Late in the fourth set, Ball State’s ability to keep points alive gave it an advantage. Leading 21-20, Wrather sprinted backward for a ball and laid out, saving the point. McIlvaine settled under it and set to outside attacker Shane Witmer, who tapped it over the IPFW wall and added a point to Ball State’s score. Witmer finished with 9 kills.
Leading the fourth set 24-23, Wrather sent an attack over the net that deflected off an IPFW attacker and fell to the ground, ending the match as Worthen Arena exploded, giving Ball State a regular season sweep over IPFW.
Ball State improved to 13-5 overall and 5-2 in the MIVA.
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