UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Outside attacker Todd Chamberlain and the No. 7 Ball State University men's volleyball team have a routine before each match.
They usually arrive to the arena about 90 minutes before the match starts, go through stretches, practice serving and then practice kills.
However, in a three-game loss at No. 1 Penn State University on Saturday, that warm-up routine was shortened to 25 minutes.
Ball State agreed to shorten its warm-up because it had travel complications to Penn State, delaying the start time of the match almost two hours.
"The long bus ride didn't hurt us, but the 25-minute warm-up did," Chamberlain said.
Originally scheduled to start at 7 p.m., the match started at 8:45 p.m. with Ball State arriving at Penn State's Rec Hall around 8:15 p.m.
Coach Joel Walton said Ball State was delayed because the team's bus started leaking oil prior to leaving Muncie. As a result, the Cardinals had to wait in the Worthen Arena parking lot for almost three hours for the bus to be repaired before they started their eight-hour bus ride to Penn State, Walton said.
Chamberlain said the shortened warm-up affected the entire team.
"We had to tape our ankles on the bus," he said. "It's no excuse, but it definitely affected me, especially in the first game."
Chamberlain had one kill and a -.444 attack percentage in game one. In addition, Penn State opened the match on a 9-5 run and out-hit the Cardinals .367 to .152 in the first game.
Freshman outside attacker Marcus Imwalle said he had experienced similar warm-up times prior to playing Ball State, but he said the shorter warm-up affected his performance Saturday.
Imwalle finished the match with a .043 attack percentage and a team-high nine kills.
"It reminded us of our club days when we you only got 30 minutes to warm up," he said. "We didn't get a full stretch of practice and get a feel for the court and environment."
Walton said there were many reasons beyond the shortened warm-up that the Cardinals lost to the Nittany Lions, such as Ball State not being able to stop Penn State's offense.
"That's not why the match was won or lost," he said. "Penn State played great [Saturday]. We couldn't match their effort."
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