The men's volleyball team grabbed quick leads in all three games of Tuesday's home match against Lewis.
Unfortunately for Ball State, Lewis led at the end of each game, winning 3-0 and handing the Cardinals their first conference and home loss of the year.
"We got our butts kicked," senior setter Keith Schunzel said. "They were way better than us. They showed up and our guys backed off and didn't play."
Ball State head coach Joel Walton said he was disappointed in his team, especially in its defense and serving. He said the Cardinals are a good team, but don't always execute as well as they can.
"Our smoke and mirrors act didn't work tonight," Walton said. "They just played better defense."
Playing in front of almost 600 people, one of the largest home crowds of the year, BSU fired ahead to an 8-2 lead in game one. Lewis, the defending national champion, battled back to take the lead at 17-16 and stayed ahead for the rest of the game, winning 30-26.
In game two, the No. 8 Cardinals (13-3, 6-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) gained a 16-14 lead halfway through the set. The Flyers (8-11, 5-3 MIVA) responded again, though, closing the game with a 16-4 run to win 30-20.
Ball State hit .182 in the first two games. Freshman Nick Meyer, who leads the team in kills this season, hit -.059 with just five kills in games one and two.
The Cardinals were down 10-6 in game three, but used an emotional run to grab a 22-18 lead. Lewis' Fabiano Barreto was too much for BSU, however, leading the Flyers to a 30-27 victory in game three to win the match in straight sets.
Barreto pounded six kills and hit .667 in the final game.
"That's the funny thing about college volleyball right now," Schunzel said. "You play to 30, so you can be up by 10 early on and it doesn't matter. A team like Lewis is just so consistent, and they don't make a lot of mistakes."
Despite his slow start, Meyer was the only Cardinal with double-figure kills. He ended the night with 10, but hit just .080. Schunzel killed eight balls, and senior Jary Delgado seven.
BSU struggled serving, something Walton said he wanted his team to improve all season. The Cardinals had 11 service errors against two service aces. Delgado especially struggled, missing four of his first five serves.
"Our bad defense started with our serves," Walton said. "We need to play a more consistent match. We need to execute our game plan better than we did here tonight."
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