Taking on the No. 2 team in the nation, the Ball State men's volleyball team failed to end its losing streak as Lewis swept the Cardinals on Feb. 12.
The first set went back and forth until the Cardinals called a timeout, trailing 12-9. Ball State slowly climbed back, bringing the set to 20-19 and forcing Lewis to call a timeout.
After one lead change and eight ties, the Flyers capped off a 25-22 first-set victory.
Lewis would carry its momentum into the second set, taking an early 13-3 lead and forcing Ball State to call its second timeout of the set.
The Flyers' domination would continue despite the run the Cardinals put up, and they would end up taking the second set 25-16.
The Cardinals came out with new life in the third set, going toe-to-toe with the Flyers; however, they would take a pair of timeouts while trailing 15-13 and again at 17-13. Lewis scored 13 of the game's last 16 points to win the final set 25-15.
"In the last set, they started putting service pressure on us, that's the biggest thing," senior libero David Ryan Vander Meer said. "We did a good job handling the serves, but when the ball's coming at you at 100 miles per hour, it gets difficult."
In the past three matches, Ball State has dropped nine sets while only winning two. The Cardinals will look to rebound Saturday against top-ranked Loyola.
"I knew last weekend those matches were really critical because we were playing No. 1 and 2 this week," head coach Joel Walton said. "Tonight we were playing one of the elite teams in the country, and you'd better show up and be ready to compete. We didn't have that kind of energy and struggled in a lot of different places."
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