Neither Ball State nor St. Francis received many style points Saturday night.
In the end, they weren't necessary.
As both teams played through a match marred by mistakes and errors, Ball State managed to come out on the fortunate end of the turmoil.
The Cardinals erased the scar of a painful 2-3 loss the previous night to George Mason by sweeping the Red Flash 3-0 in the team's final match of the week.
"We played a lot more as a team tonight," junior outside attacker Larry Wrather said. "We just took last night as a milestone of what we need to work on."
Despite the sweep, coach Joel Walton was left unimpressed by his team's play and said Ball State benefited from the poor performance by St. Francis.
"Honestly, I think the difference was our opponent made more errors than we did tonight," Walton said. "If there was a difference tonight, I think we got our block in a better place."
Ball State ended the match with 11 total blocks due in large part to starting middle attackers Matt Leske and Kevin Owens, who both had four block assists and one solo block.
Owens, who graduated from Cathedral High School, had a supporting cast of Cathedral volleyball players and his former freshman high school coach, John Kesterson, cheering him on during his strong performance.
When Owens' name was announced in the starting lineup, he climbed the stands to the left of Ball State's bench to give Kesterson a souvenir volleyball.
It was a sign of gratitude toward a man who had helped Owens become the player he is today.
"He is what I would say is the Don Shondell of Cathedral," Owens said. "He got me started, taught me everything I know. I still love those guys and I love Cathedral, so it keeps me grounded. I love it."
Owens' display of appreciation wasn't the only surprise that came prior to the match. Sophomore outside attacker Urim Demirovski, who had yet to play a point this season, unexpectedly drew the start over Wrather.
Wrather eventually entered the match in the second game and finished with six kills and hit .417. Following the match, Walton said Wrather's temporary demotion wasn't performance-based.
With Wrather limited to two sets of play, junior right-side attacker Jamion Hartley took the lead on offense once again. He nailed 12 kills and hit .320, his highest attack percentage of the season.
Now with a 3-2 record, Ball State will be able to move on from a week filled with many highs and lows.
Wrather is confident there will be much more of the former moving forward.
"I think with this team, all you can have is up right now," Wrather said. "This is just a great bunch of guys, and no matter what we have, it's going to be up for us."
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