The Ball State men's volleyball team continued its early season dominance as it defeated Saint Francis 3-1 on Saturday at Worthen Arena.
The Cardinals came out a bit slow, coming off a five-set victory over the Nittany Lions of Penn State Friday.
The first set went back and forth, and the Cardinals were forced to call a timeout trailing 24-25. After a couple lead changes, Ball State took another timeout trailing 27-28 before dropping the first set 27-29.
The Cardinals responded, coming out with a clear urgency in the second set.
"We did start off fatigued. We came out a little lackadaisical," head coach Joel Walton said. "It was nice to see as the match progressed and our guys began to figure some things out, we began to play more competitively."
After Ball State started off with a 15-8 lead halfway through the second set, Saint Francis was forced to call a timeout. The Cardinals cruised the rest of the way on to a 25-17 second set victory, tying the match 1-1.
Ball State scored 11 straight points while boasting a .381 attack percentage in set three, coming away with a 25-9 victory to take a 2-1 lead on the night.
"Today we started off a little slow, but we definitely picked it up [in sets] 2-4 today," senior Shane Witmer said. "Martin [Niemczewski] was serving great, we said going into that game the thing that was going to win us the match was effort."
Witmer led the team with 10 kills and a .714 attack percentage. He also had six digs on the night.
Setter Hiago Garchet had 41 assists to pace Ball State's offense.
The fourth set began the same way the third ended, with Ball State jumping out to a quick 12-5 lead to force a timeout. The Cardinals held the Red Flashes to just 14 points in the fourth and final set.
"Our defense was the really one of the biggest things. We started pressuring them with our serves," Walton said. "Once they weren't going up and getting kills we were able to put a lot more pressure on them and string together some runs and points."
Leaders for the Cardinals included junior Matt Sutherland, who had eight kills and five digs. Niemczewski added seven kills and nine digs, while Matt Walsh had six kills.
Defensively, libero David Ryan Vander Meer had seven digs. Ball State held Saint Francis to a .033 attack percentage while accumulating 15.5 blocks.
The Cardinals will be traveling to the east coast to take on Harvard and Sacred Heart on the road.
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