The No. 10 Ball State University men's volleyball team remained undefeated as the Carthage Redmen came to Worthen Arena Friday night for the second annual Don Shondell Active Ankle Challenge.
Friday's thriller was just that, challenging, but Ball State prevailed 3-2 (28-30, 30-21, 25-30, 30-24, 15-10). The Redmen, No. 2 in Div. III, put up a fight and extended the night's match to five games. The match ended the Cardinals' streak of nine consecutive wins without losing a game as the Redmen slowed the Cardinals with aggressive offense and solid defense.
In the highlight of the evening, Ball State's sophomore libero Ian Peckler broke a 19-year old school record with 29 digs. The previous record, 25, had been held by current head coach Joel Walton since 1987.
"I had set that record in a four-game match against Ohio State back when we had regular scoring," Walton said. "Now I've got to spurn Ian on to try and break that record with 30 digs in a match against Penn State and Ohio State, someone in our conference that's going to matter a whole lot more than it did tonight. But congratulations to Ian for taking my record off the books. It's about time we had someone do that."
The Cards lost the first game and later found themselves down two games to one. The scoring in all of the games was back and forth with both teams taking leads throughout.
"I was glad to see our guys work our way back in after we were down two games to one," Walton said. "It was not a position I expected us to be in, but at that point you've got to make plays and we opened up a gap (in game four)."
Ball State's Nick Meyer had a great all-around game with 11 digs and 17 kills. Patrick Durbin (18 kills, seven digs) and Evan Berg (13 kills and 7 digs) also played well. Zoran Grabovac had a great offensive night with 13 kills. Grabovac found himself in an interesting position at one point when the ball was too low to set or hit. Being in the middle of a competitive rally, and moving his feet a little more than normal, he kicked the volleyball over the net. The kick-shot counted but the rally eventually ended and the point went to Carthage. In accordance with NCAA rule 14, section 1, article 2: 'A player who contacts the ball, or is contacted by the ball other than during blocking action, is considered to have played the ball and such action constitutes a team hit.'
Carthage's Shane Olson lead all players with 25 kills on the evening, while four Carthage players collected double-figure digs behind Matt Ulmer's 13. Carthage's Rob Koehler finished the night with a match-best six blocks.
The biggest problem the Cardinals had was their inability to block the Redmen's offense effectively. A majority of the balls blocked in the first three games went out of bounds. The team talked about it and the problem was nearly diminished in game four.
"I told the guys we've got to do a better job with our hands," Walton said. "We've got to make sure we keep their attackers inside of our block, and the middles have to get over and close (the gap). We finished with two or three blocks in those last few rallies. That's what we needed to do."
The Cardinals, though giving up two games, protected the home court and remained undefeated on the season. After a sprint in game five, the Cardinal got the win and will return to action next weekend when they play host to Springfield College on Friday.
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