Two Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) teams clashed as the Ohio State Buckeyes travelled to Muncie to take on the Ball State Cardinals.
This was Ball State’s eighth ranked matchup on the season, with the Buckeyes coming in as the No. 16 team. No. 11 Ball State took down Ohio State 3-2 (23-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-25, 15-12 ).
Worthen Arena was buzzing as much as it had all season, comparable to the home crowd against Brigham Young University. Ball State had a blackout theme at the game, with the Cardinals wearing red and black, and a sea of black in the crowd.
Ball State junior outside hitter Patrick Rogers talked about the feeling of playing in front of such a big home crowd.
“The more the crowd gets going, the more energy we have,” Rogers said. “It’s huge having this crowd, I wish we could have that every time.”
Starting in set one, the crowd was living up to the hype. The Cardinals struck first with a kill from Rogers, and the crowd erupted. The red and black kept that momentum up, and took an 8-3 lead.
As the set went on, service errors were piling up for the Cardinals. The Buckeyes took advantage of that, and crept back into it, tying the set up at twenty a piece. Despite being down 23-22, the Buckeyes put together three straight points to take the first set.
With a high profile name like Ohio State coming to Worthen Arena, Ball State head coach Donan Cruz knew this would be a hyped up game before the first serve.
“We were anticipating that people were going to come out and support, and they definitely showed out,” Cruz said. “We just told the guys, ‘hey enjoy the environment, you’ve got fans behind you. Give them something to cheer for, but also focus on the game.’”
The second set began, and the Cardinals got right back to work despite a sour end to set one. Ball State started the set in the driver’s seat, and was able to hold a comfortable three-score lead for most of the set. The red and black were able to pull away in the set, and took a set two victory dominantly.
Cardinals senior opposite Raje Alleyne talked about the team feeling of being able to respond to a set one loss with a set two win.
“It feels really good, we know what we have to do and we know what it takes to win”, Alleyne said.
The Buckeyes responded in a big way to their set two troubles, and started the third set firing. They took an early 8-3 lead, and it looked like they were going to run away with it. Despite Ohio State jumping out to a 17-11 lead, Ball State came storming back to tie it up at nineteen.
Rogers took over and proved to be the X factor, recording six kills in the set, and leading the Cardinals to a set three victory. Rogers talked about the feeling of taking over and leading a Cardinals comeback.
“It all comes from the crowd,” Rogers said. “Them getting excited and feeling our energy on the court is so important for us.”
Being down 2-1 in the match, Ohio State was playing set four with nothing to lose. They jumped out to an early lead, and kept on extending that lead into the late portion of the set. The Buckeyes dominated the fourth set from start to finish, as they pushed the match to a fifth set.
Ohio State took an early advantage in the fifth set, jumping out to a 5-2 lead. But Ball State responded and tied it up at six. When Ohio State took another lead, Rogers — who ended the game with 18 kills — converted on two consecutive kills to give Ball State a 10-9 edge.
This was the fourth consecutive game that Ball State has played without senior Tinaishe Ndavazocheva. Despite being down a star player, the Cardinals have held their own, improving to 2-2 in that stretch.
“I don’t feed into it at all [missing Ndavazocheva],” Cruz said. “We have a really deep team and we practice really hard, so if Griff [Satterfield] or Will [Basilio] or Bartz does that against a top team, then they are prepared for that in a game.”
Every team win feels good, but this one was sweeter for Alleyne and the rest of the team.
“It is one of the first times this season that we have won a five set game, so it means a lot for us,” he said.
Ball State will remain at home and will take on Lindenwood March 1st at 5:00 p.m. in Worthen Arena.
Contact Kyle Stout via email at kyle.stout@bsu.edu or via X @kylestoutdailyn.
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