After a solid victory over Findlay on Friday, the men's volleyball team lost a match and its spot atop the conference standings Sunday at defending national champion Lewis.
The loss knocked the No. 12 Cardinals (17-7, 10-3 MIVA) out of first place in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association and into a tie with Lewis (15-11, 10-3 MIVA) for second in the league, half a game behind Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne.
The Cardinals got ahead of Lewis quickly in the first game and coasted to 30-22 victory. Head coach Joel Walton said he was pleased with the team's offense in game one. Ball State hit .517 in the game. The Cardinals went on to lose the next three games, though, as their offense sputtered.
"We were inconsistent," Walton said. "Tonight we had problems staying in a rhythm with our offense."
Ball State's offense worsened as the Lewis match went on. The Cardinals hit .316 in game two, .250 in game three and a season-low -.200 in game four.
"On the road, to win games, you've really got to stay in your offense," Walton said. "We just couldn't sustain our offense."
Serving was a struggle again for the Cardinals at Lewis. Ball State had 18 serving errors against two service aces.
Walton said the team's offensive performance at Lewis was especially disappointing considering it played so well two days before against Findlay.
Against the Oilers, Ball State hit .337 and had just eight serving errors in a 30-19, 30-26, 30-27 victory.
Senior outside attacker Jary Delgado led the Cardinals in kills in both matches. He notched 18 kills against Findlay and hit .487. He added 19 kills at Lewis, but hit .214.
"We've been leaning pretty hard on Jary lately," Walton said. "We need some people other than Jary and Keith (Schunzel) and Zoran (Grabovac) to lead us. It would be great it we could get one or two people to step up and be more consistent with their game."
Four teams are at the head of the MIVA with three losses. IPFW (13-8, 11-3 MIVA) has one more league victory than Ball State and Lewis, while Ohio State (16-8, 9-3 MIVA) has one less. Should the teams remain tied at the end of the season, the Cardinals hold the tie-breaker over IPFW, having won the season series. Lewis has the tie-breaker over Ball State for the same reason. Ball State beat Ohio State once this season and plays the Buckeyes again April 16.
Walton said the second loss to Lewis this season is easier to take because the Cardinals still have a shot at winning the conference.
"If we can continue playing better defense and get our offense going again, we're still right there," Walton said. "It's anybody's ballgame."
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