Ball State sweep the Mastodons by winning 26-24, 25-21, 25-18
Ball State faced the Mastodons this Saturday in a match that proved to be much more advantageous to the Cardinals than IPFW. The Cardinals emerged as victors by defeating their opponents in a sweep. Not only that, Ball State was also able to scrap a record for themselves as well. By registering 21.5 blocks, the Cardinals become the team that now has the highest blocks in during this season.
The Intercollegiate Volleyball Association match played between the two teams took place at the Gates Sports Center. The victory has caused the number 13 ranking Cardinals to have six wins during the entire season at the expense of four losses. The team’s MIVA statistics stand at 1-1. In contrast to this, IPFW have had the same number of six wins in the season overall but their losses have totalled to five with the recent defeat. However, the Mastodons have not been able to make even a single win in MIVA so far, while losing three matches.
Prominent amongst the Ball State players are the names of Anders Nelson and Greg Herceg. Nelson, who is the senior middle blocker for the Cardinals, was able to pull off his career high number of block assists at 10. Not only that, Nelson had the highest hitting percentage amongst all the attackers at an aggressive .750.
On the other hand, Herceg, who is the sophomore right side attacker contributed towards the Cardinals by also putting up career high records of two solo blocks and six block assists. Herceg was the player that was able to post the highest number of kills for the Cardinals at seven.
There was a significant difference in both the Mastodons and the Cardinals attacking percentages. At the end of the match, the attacking mark of Ball State was .319 whereas that of the Mastodons stood at a smaller value of .115.
Looking at the Mastodons, Ivan Matos, Darryl Shank, and Eddie Rivera helped their team step up the play. Matos was able to register the highest number of kills in the entire match at 12. He was helped by his team mate Shank, who contributed 11 kills of his own. Rivera kept up the spirits of IPFW by adding seven digs.
At the start of the first set of the match, IPFW had the lead at 5-1. Ball State kept on trailing till 11-9 but they eventually tied the4 match at 11-11. When the Cardinals got the lead at 13-12, IPFW pushed ahead with 19-14. The set was still tied at 21 but the Cardinals were eventually able to take the set at 26-24.
The second set of the match began fiercely, with a tie reached at 11-11. The Cardinals broke away by a lead of 14-11 which got extended to 21-16. After that, IPFW was not able to come quite close and lost the set to the Cardinals at 25-21.
The Cardinals were able to get the lead early in the third set at 7-4. The Mastodons could not step up their play in what became the last set of the match as the Cardinals won it by 25-18.
The next match for the Cardinals will be on Friday, when it will be playing Ohio State.
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