Prior to its match against No. 1 UCLA in the 1995 Volleyball Hall of Fame Tournament, Ball State University middle attacker Phil Eatherton asked his teammates what would happen if they beat the Bruins.
Following that question, he then asked what would happen if Ball State swept the Bruins and one of his teammates made a bet with Eatherton.
"I'm not going to tell you what the bet was, but let's just say he never did it," Eatherton said.
Thirteen years later as the current Cardinals prepare to play UCLA on Friday, that bet is still unfulfilled, and the 1995 Ball State men's volleyball team remains the school's only team to beat an opponent ranked No. 1.
"That was probably the greatest victory in my coaching career and Ball State coaching career," former Ball State coach Don Shondell said. "We just came out ready to play, and they didn't come out ready to play. They were thinking they were getting the easy win."
Being ranked No. 15 and having an 8-5 record, the Cardinals were scheduled to play the undefeated Bruins in the semi-final match of the Hall of Fame Tournament. UCLA entered the match compiling a 39-2 record during the last two seasons and had All-American Jeff Nygaard, who prior to the match Shondell said was the best player in the nation.
"We had a chip on our shoulder," outside attacker Greg Romano said. "They looked down upon the teams from the Midwest, and we had a great team."
Prior to that match, the Cardinals had never defeated UCLA, including a loss in Los Angeles during the 1994 season.
Eatherton and Shondell said it was clear the Bruins were overlooking the Cardinals in warm-ups.
"They weren't expecting us to play as hard as they played," Eatherton said. "In warm-ups they were kind of [goofing] around. The guys were kicking a volleyball around, and it looked like they weren't expecting Ball State to put up a fight."
With the match being played prior to the rally scoring system being used in college volleyball, Ball State defeated UCLA in the first game 15-5.
Despite giving UCLA one of its largest losses of the season, Shondell said he was still nervous after the first game.
"We were afraid they might get their game together," he said. "Sometimes it turns around we won some games from them but not win the match."
However, UCLA coach Al Scates said the Bruins were never able to match the same intensity as Ball State.
The Cardinals went on to win game two 15-12 and game three 15-13 to complete the sweep.
"I remember watching our team warm up and just fooling around, and I was just thinking we deserve to lose," Scates said. "We definitely overlooked Ball State."
Offensively, Cardinals' outside attacker Todd Reimer had a match-high 22 kills and four serving aces. Also, Romano had 17 kills and a match-high .714 attack percentage.
In addition, Ball State held Nygaard to six kills and a zero attack percentage.
"We really just played within ourselves, and we were an offensive team that year," Reimer said. "Everything seemed to fall in that night. I'm not saying we were perfect, but we played at an elevated level. It seemed that night everything we did was right."
Following the match, Ball State defeated Penn State University in five games to win the Hall of Fame Tournament.
With the tournament win, Ball State received national coverage throughout most volleyball magazines, and it helped the Cardinals' momentum and confidence as they won the 1995 MIVA Championship, Shondell said.
For the players and coaches, the win had a deeper meaning and gave them greater respect nationally.
"By beating UCLA it really did send a message we can't be taking lightly," Reimer said. "I remember coach Shondell say before our matches the next week 'Hey guys everyone is looking at you now as the team that beat UCLA, and use that to your advantage.'"
The loss to Ball State at the Hall of Fame Tournament would be Bruins only loss of the season. Two months after that match, they won the NCAA Championship, defeating Ball State in the semi-finals on the same court where the previous match occurred.
Scates said the loss to Ball State was probably the best thing for his team and helped it win the national championship.
"You can't say that about many losses, but that one was a good one," he said.
Despite the loss to the Bruins to end their season in May, Eatherton, Reimer and Romano said beating UCLA was one of the most memorable moments of their Ball State careers."The win against UCLA was a huge win for program," Romano said. "Everything just clicked that night and we knew we could compete with anyone."
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