The men's volleyball team had more difficulty than expected but pulled out a victory against Findlay, 3-1.
Heading into the match, Findlay was in seventh place, third from last, in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. The Cardinals were 1-1 in the MIVA and ranked No. 10 in the nation.
Ball State won the first set with a .500 hitting percentage. The Cardinals beat the Oilers, who hit .150 in the game, 30-20.
The second game went back and forth. After Ball State jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead, Findlay came back 12-11. The Cardinals then scored six of the next seven points and kept the lead. They won the set 30-26.
The team again started fast in the third game. Big kills by senior attackers Matt Denmark and Kyle Weindel and errors by the Oilers gave Ball State an 18-9 lead. After head coach Joel Walton made substitutions for some of his starters, Findlay went on a 7-1 run to get back in the game.
"We worked a couple of guys in the middle of game three and lost a big advantage," Walton said. "We really kind of lost all our momentum as well."
Findlay outscored the Cardinals 21-10 at the end of the set and won 30-28. The Oilers used the momentum they took from Ball State to continue their good play into the fourth game.
After trailing early, the Cardinals came back and tied Findlay at 10. They took their first lead at 13-12. They then scored seven straight points to build a lead they wouldn't lose, winning the final set 30-24.
The team went on the seven-point run on the strength of Weindel's serving. He had two aces in the span and all five of Ball State's aces in the game. Weindel also tied with senior middle attacker Josh Zuidema for the lead in Cardinal kills with 11 apiece.
Although they won the set and the match, Ball State hit .063 in game four. The percentage brought the team down to .283 for the game.
Two days after playing sparingly against Quincy, senior middle attacker Matt Denmark made his first start since his auto accident Feb. 1. He hit .333 with 10 kills and led the Cardinals with three blocks.
"(Denmark)'s playing well," Walton said. "He's still experiencing a little soreness in his muscles, but it's nothing that is going to prevent him from playing at his best."
Walton added that Denmark is about 98 percent back to full-strength.
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