The IPFW Mastodons handed Ball State it's first loss of the season on Friday night. The Cardinals (11-1) will now travel to Kenosha, Wis. for their second match of the weekend.
"They came out a little more prepared to win than we did," coach Joel Walton said. "They came to play and executed a lot better than we did."
In front of a near-capacity crowd in Gates Sports Center in Fort Wayne, the Mastodons took control early with a 30-20 game one win. In the first game, hard-hitting Mastodon sophomore C.J. Macias recorded 10 kills.
"It's a great crowd," Walton said. "We came in here last year and jumped on them early on, and quieted them down. Tonight the crowd was all over us and stayed there. We had problems executing in key moments."
In game two the Cardinals stepped up their play and kept the game close. Twice in the game Ball State found themselves down by a few and came back to keep it close to the point where IPFW had to call time-outs. The game remained close all the way into the thirties. The Mastodons inevitably took the game 35-33.
A player that kept the Cardinals in the game was freshman Matt McCarthy. McCarthy had three kills within two minutes and added a much-needed spark to the fading Cardinals.
"Matt has something going on with his shoulder and wasn't supposed to be swinging at those," Walton said. "[Assistant coach] Kevin Furnish challenged him to get out there and get after the ball."
In game three, after a 21-21 tie, Ball State took the lead for good and won game three 30-28.
During game four Ball State fell behind early 5-0 and never gained ground again, as the Cardinals fell 30-24.
Next up for the Cardinals is Div. III Carthage. The Red Men took Ball State to five games in January and after a tough match against IPFW the Cardinals look to bounce back.
"Were going to go on with our normal routine," Walton said. "We expect (Carthage) to come out with a lot of energy, and we have to match it and overcome it."
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