The men's volleyball team will head into the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association tournament in third place after closing out the regular season with a win and a loss over the weekend.
No. 15 Ball State (16-14, 10-6 MIVA) dropped its last conference match to No. 10 Loyola (25-2, 15-1) on Friday at home. Loyola won the MIVA regular-season title with the win.
The Ramblers took the match 3-1 (30-21, 30-25, 30-24, 30-24).
Pat Durbin opened up the first game with a kill, but the Ramblers quickly took the lead. A kill by Loyola's Corey Kloos, who had 14 kills with no errors for the match, started a six-point run to give the Ramblers a nine-point lead at 18-9. The Cardinals couldn't recover and dropped the game. BSU failed to overcome a similar lead, 20-12, in the second game.
A string of errors allowed Ball State to take the lead 13-10 in game three. Loyola took the lead back at 21-20, but Andrew Braley scored a kill to give the Cards a four-point run and win the game.
BSU kept the fourth game close in the beginning but slowed down to let Loyola win the game and match.
Zoran Grabovac (.296), Nick Meyer (.125) and Luis Castera (.081) each contributed 12 kills. Ian Peckler led the team with 19 digs. Ball State had 71 digs to Loyola's 65, but the Ramblers out blocked the Cards 13 to seven.
"[Friday] night's loss was pretty tough because there was no emotion," Grabovac said.
The Cards turned things around to beat Rutgers (12-14) in 3-1 (30-18, 30-27, 30-12, 30-24).
Six blocks in the first game helped the Cards take control, and Scott Bushong, who later in the game injured his ankle and had to leave the match, notched a kill to take BSU on a five-point runt to lead the game 14-8. BSU continued to dominate, winning the game.
The Scarlet Raiders came back strong in the second game, opening up the lead 26-21. A five-point run led by a kill from Dave Carlson wasn't enough to stop Rutgers, and BSU dropped the match.
The Cards took a huge lead immediately in the third game, blowing the game open 9-1. The Scarlet Raiders never recovered, losing the game by 18 points.
BSU lost some of its momentum in the fourth game, committing nine errors, but managed to finish off Rutgers.
"I feel like our team has shown that they can play great volleyball, but we still continue to struggle with consistency from start to finish," Walton said.
Meyer, in his first start since injuring his ankle March 21, led the team with 19 kills (.293).
"It feels good to be back on the court," he said.
Grabovac added 13 kills with only one error, to reach a team-high .706.
"It was kind of a special night because it's senior night," Grabovac said. "Unfortunately Scott got hurt -- I guess emotionally I wanted to do good for him and Andrew."
Braley, in his final regular season game, struggled offensively, scoring four kills but six errors. He had a strong defensive game, though, tying a career-high 10 blocks.
Scott Bushong, the other graduating senior on the team, notched four kills before leaving the game.
Carlson contributed 16 digs, and BSU outpaced Rutgers in blocks, 16-13.
Despite leading in blocks, Walton said he thought the team could have done better. IPFW earned 25 blocks against the Scarlet Raiders on Friday.
The Cards will face off against Mercyhurst in the MIVA quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Saturday at home.
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