For the first time since Jan. 28, No. 12 Ball State Men’s Volleyball defeated an opponent in a sweep.
Saturday, the Cardinals (9-5, 4-2) exited the Pepsi Center on the campus of Quincy University with the win in straight sets (25-23, 25-22, 25-22). The win for Ball State was actually the seventh-straight loss via sweep for the Hawks (4-10, 0-6).
“I think Quincy played some of their best volleyball that we have seen them play,” head coach Donan Cruz said. “We feel like we bring out the best in a lot of teams and to walk out of Lindenwood in five and Quincy in three was a huge boost.”
The Cardinals hit the ground running on offense in the first two sets. Fifth-year outside attacker Kaleb Jenness spent the night tallying kills from all sides of the court. His total of 19 led all players and he did it on a .516 hitting percentage.
24 hours earlier, Ball State fought from behind in a battle with Lindenwood (5-7, 3-2) in which the Cardinals escaped with a five set win (14-25, 18-25, 25-17, 25-22, 15-8)
“Lindenwood started off playing great and we could not get going,” Cruz said. “We made some adjustments and brought in [fourth-year outside hitter] Bryce [Behrendt] and [first-year opposite] Keau [Thompson] and [fourth-year setter] Dave [David Flores] and that stabilized our impact game and helped us find a rhythm.”
In the match against the Lions, Jenness led all players with 17 kills. Behrendt served up five-straight points in the fifth set, a set where Ball State held Lindenwood to a .000 attack percentage.
The Cardinals now sit in third place in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association behind Loyola Chicago in second place and Ohio State in first place.
Ball State returns to Worthen Arena March 1 for an out-of-conference match against Central State University at 6 p.m.
Contact Corbin Hubert with comments at cchubert@bsu.edu or on Twitter @corbin_hubert_
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