The Ball State University men's volleyball team had a successful trip to Cincinnati yesterday when it met the Buckeyes from Ohio State in an exhibition match at Moeller High School.
The team played in a scrimmage in the morning and then in an actual exhibition match in the afternoon. It could be called a successful failure as the Cardinals lost the scrimmage (19-25, 14-25, 13-25, 16-25, 29-27) and won the afternoon match 3-1 (30-17 27-30 30-16 33-31).
"We came from behind in game four and lost a close second game," Ball State coach Joel Walton said. "We hung in there and kept chipping away and got ahead. That's a very good sign. I would like to send a congratulations to [football] coach Hoke and his team [on their win]; that was our inspiration today."
Sunday's match was played at Cincinnati's Moeller High School, junior outside attacker Nick Meyer's high school. Ohio State's Robert Klein is also from Moeller.
"It was really nice to have everyone there to watch the guys play this weekend, especially Nick's family and friends," Walton said.
Walton also said that both Meyer and Klein received standing ovations from their high school hometown crowd.
The Cardinals showed a difference in intensity from the morning scrimmage to the afternoon match.
"Between serves and passes, in the morning (the Buckeyes) out-served us and made it hard to return," Walton said. "The tables turned in the evening: We served them tougher and got our defense on track. It was a 180 degree difference ... we had a problem with putting a good series of plays together."
In the evening match the Cardinals had 17 total blocks. Meyer led the team with 21 points, followed by Evan Berg with 16.5 and Pat Durbin with 16.
Ian Peckler was the team's dig leader with 20. Zoran Grabovac led blocks with eight, and the points scoring leader for morning match was Luis Castera with 14 points, all on kills. He hit .525.
"He was actually the only bright spot in the morning match," Walton said.
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