On Tuesday, the men's volleyball team, ranked No.10 in the Volleyball Magazine poll, defeated the visiting Rutgers-Newark in a long, emotional match to improve to 3-0 for the season. The Cards, who hit a season-low .252, needed all five games to get the victory.
Leading the team's attack was Kyle Weindel with 22 kills and Paul Fasshauer contributed with 16 of his own. Setter Keith Schunzel, who averaged a clean 15 assists per game over the first two matches, directed the Cards with 62 assists.
"They have become pretty consistent for us," said coach Joel Walton of the performances of Weindel and Fasshauer. "(Weindel) was out of the game late and came back with some big kills with the match on the line."
Rutgers-Newark were led by 19 kills from Ryan Burrow and Danko Lordanoveach. They also got 58 assists from Aleks Ondelj.
For Ball State its third win of the season came with much struggle, provided by the defense of Rutgers-Newark.
"One big thing was that they served us tough," said Walton, whose team is nearing the end of a four-game homestand. "They did a good job of blocking and all night long made it difficult for us to get into a good rhythm offensively."
Ball State was taken to the limit and got some much needed boost from the crowd. Playing a deciding game five, the fans made their presence known with heckling, stomping and various other forms of fan support. Even the men's basketball team showed up to get behind their fellow Ball State athletes.
"It's always an advantage to play at home," explains Walton. "We have fans who know volleyball and know when to heckle and when to scream. Tonight, this game was only decided by two games and the fans may have pushed us over the top."
Ball State lost the first game in close fashion, 30-28, while hitting a lowly .069 and followed that up with another close game. This time, the Cards were on the winning side, tying the match at a game apiece. The third game was pure dominance on the side of Ball State, winning 30-22. The team hit a season high .556 compared to Rutgers-Newark's .182.
Knowing that Ball State needed only one more win to walk out with victory, Rutgers-Newark showed dominance in its own way, leaving the Cards constantly crawling to get within striking distance.
At the start of the last game, the fans showed up in a mighty way and boosted the team to win the match.
The Cardinals finish the homestand Sunday at 2 p.m. against Lindenwood.
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