The No. 9 men's volleyball team traveled to Central State on Tuesday, breaking five school records. The Cardinals defeated the plundering Marauders in a no-contest match, 3-0 (30-2, 30-5, 30-6).
"They're definitely a beginning team," coach Joel Walton said. "They really struggled with ball control. We were putting a playable serve in and they just weren't able to control it and hit their targets."
Ball State hit 30 service aces to break the record of 14 against Edinboro. Matt McCarthy and Mark Termion each had 11 service aces, beating the record set by Todd Reimer with eight in 1994 versus George Mason.
Mark Rumshick and Doug Willman had two aces, and Todd Chamberlain had one. Carlos Ramos collected an ace on his first-career serve. Jim Shiel also set the team to its school-record attack percentage, recording a match-best 25 assists. He also logged two digs, one block and a kill in the victory.
Rumshick hit .800 percent on 12 kills out of 16 swings to rank fourth all-time on Ball State's single-match charts. As a team the Cardinals hit .755 against the Marauders, who hit negative .105. The .755 for the Cardinals is first all-time for hitting percentage in a match.
The match was over before it began when the Marauders couldn't fix their errors problem to save a game.
"I thought our guys did a good job," Walton said. "It's a match where the real important thing is that we're giving Central State a chance to play against one of the best teams in the country. We didn't give them anything to work with. When you win 30-2, 30-5, 30-6, that means we did a very good job of not making any errors and making few mistakes throughout the games."
Two players that didn't make the trip, Ryan Clarke and Zoran Grabovac, had class conflicts.
Ball State next plays the Loyola Ramblers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The contest features the only unbeaten teams in Division I men's volleyball. The biggest match of the year will be played in front of the best fans in the MIVA.
"This is a really unique opportunity for the team to play in front of our fans in Worthen Arena at Ball State," Walton said. "Out of all the games we play from here on out, this is the only one where both teams are undefeated. I'm looking forward to the challenge and am excited to be playing those guys here at home. The other teams will be watching and it will be a chance to send out a message of what we're capable of and what our intentions are for the season."
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