For a match that didn't affect seeding in the conference tournament, Friday's win against first-place Ohio State University meant a lot to the Ball State University men's volleyball team.
No. 15 Ball State (17-11, 8-4 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) defeated No. 6 Ohio State (22-3, 10-2 MIVA) 30-32, 31-29, 30-18, 30-27 to finish the MIVA regular season. The Cardinals also defeated Nutgers-Newark University (30-23, 30-22, 30-27) on Saturday.
"We are a team to be reckoned with, and we can beat anyone when we put our minds to it and play well," setter Ethan Pheister said.
This was the second time since 2003 Ball State beat Ohio State and it ended the Cardinals' four-match losing streak against nationally ranked teams in the MIVA.
The Buckeyes entered Friday winning 14 of their last 15 matches.
"That was a huge win," outside attacker Todd Chamberlain said. "Ohio State is always a huge rival and we have a lot of tradition against their team. After [Friday], people now realize we are capable of winning the [MIVA] Tournament."
Prior to the match, Ball State had clinched fourth place in the MIVA, and Ohio State secured first place and home court advantage in the conference tournament.
Coach Joel Walton said it was big win Friday, but most people won't think it was a big win because didn't affect the conference standings.
"Hopefully, the other teams are just all scared to death of us, but the reality is they knew it really didn't matter much as the standings go, and it was going to be hard for Ohio State to be really motivated," Walton said.-á
"Hopefully, we'll get a chance to play Ohio State again and prove this wasn't a fluke.-áPeople are going to blow this match off and say it didn't matter to Ohio State so they just gave that one away."
With the regular season finished, Ball State plays Lewis University the first round of the MIVA Tournament on Saturday.-á Ohio State received a first round bye after winning the MIVA regular season.
Friday was Pheister's first match as the starting setter since Jan. 13. He finished with a team-high 47 assists and two service aces.
Pheister started the season's first three matches before setter Jeff Schmitz replaced him as the starter.
"I've been waiting for this for a while, so it was good," Pheister said. "Being on the bench was definitely a good learning experience for me and it really has been good for me."
This match marked the second time Ball State won in five games after Pheister replaced Schmitz following game two.-á The first time was against No. 14 Pacific University March 24.
Walton said Pheister earned the start against Ohio State with those two performances.
"I liked the way our offense ran at Lewis, and I wanted to see if Ethan could do that against Ohio State, a team that serves even tougher," he said.
Chamberlain had season-high 20 kills Friday and it was largely because of Pheister's setting, he said.
"Ethan was just setting me a good ball, keeping it high and keeping it near the net so I could step-up and take a good swing at it," Chamberlain said. "We were going up against single blocks and when you're going up against a single block it's not too hard to put it away."
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