Trailing 23-21 in game three of Saturday's match, setter Jeff Schmitz set a ball to the right side of the court for outside attacker Lee Meyer, who connected for the kill.
Sitting in the third row of the Worthen Arena stands, the Ball State University men's volleyball team's all-time kill leader during the rally scoring era joined in the applause for his younger brother's first kill of the match.
The situation was a role reversal.
For four years, Lee Meyer would travel three hours with his family to sit in the Worthen Arena stands and watch his older brother, Nick Meyer, play for the Cardinals. Now, as a freshman it is Lee Meyer playing for Ball State and his role-model older brother watching him.
"He was definitely been a role model for me for my entire life," Lee Meyer said. "I always look up to him in the classroom and on the volleyball court and almost every aspect of his life is mine."
As a freshman, Lee Meyer has played in 15 matches and is second among Ball State freshman with 53 kills. Prior to his college career, he was a four-year varsity member at his Cincinnati high school and won the 2007 Ohio Player of the Year during his senior season.
Lee Meyer said the biggest reason he has been able to adjust his game to the college level is because of the trips he took to watch his brother play matches for the Cardinals.
"I got to learn in my four years of high school how to adapt to college level," he said. "I also know if I have issues or problems he is only a phone call away."
Currently at Oklahoma State University pursuing a master's degree, Nick Meyer ended his college career as the school record holder with 1,415 kills, a 3.83 kills per game average and 3,175 attack attempts.
With his brother holding those records and already knowing almost every player on the team while in high school, Lee Meyer said that at the start of this season it was difficult to get out of his brother's shadow.
"Once the team found out I was coming here they said 'oh Nick Meyer is coming back next year' and they actually called me Nick Meyer for about the first four or five weeks of school to try to give me a hard time," he said. "When I started playing and differing myself from my brother they started to call me by my real name. It was kind of a joke, but they now see me for who I am and not my brother."
The biggest difference between Nick and Lee Meyer is their demeanor on the court, senior outside attacker Patrick Durbin said.
"Lee when he makes mistakes, he tends to get really down on himself and kind of expresses it in a big manner and let's everyone know he's mad," Durbin said. "Nick definitely used to do that as a freshman, but last year, his senior year, he was good about keeping it to himself and worrying about the next play."
Durbin was in the same 2003 recruiting class as Nick Meyer and played three seasons with him before red-shirting last season. In addition, he is the first person besides Nick Meyer to lead the team in kills since 2005.
Coach Joel Walton said Lee Meyer has performed well during this season and he is better at blocking than Nick Meyer was during his freshman season. Walton also said if Lee Meyer continues to work as hard as his brother did, then he will be successful on the court during his four years with the Cardinals.
"Dan and Lynn Meyer should be proud of their children," Walton said. "They both came in to our program with a good work ethic and are competitors."
Lee Meyer is the third member of his family to play NCAA volleyball. In addition to Nick Meyer, his older sister, Danielle Meyer, finished her four-year college career for Ohio State University in November 2007 as the school's second all-time career blocks leader and the third all-time career kills leader with 1,760.
After narrowing down his college choices to Ball State and Ohio State during his senior year, Lee Meyer said, the situation was interesting, but his family let him have the final say on where he want to school.
"I kind of had Nick pulling on one arm and Danielle pulling on my other arm," he said. "Deep down they knew it was my decision because they had the freedom to choose where they went to school, and my brother and sister and my mom and dad wanted me to have that same freedom."
Walton said throughout the recruiting process he did not ask Nick Meyer to help persuade his younger brother to sign with the Cardinals.
However, Lee Meyer said the main reason he chose Ball State instead of Ohio State was because of the university's architecture program, an area he wanted to pursue since he was 10 years old.
"The athletic programs are pretty much very similar in that respect and architecture here is huge and it has it good base and a good reputation," he said.
As an architecture major and student-athlete, Lee Meyer said his typical day starts at 6 a.m. when he weight lifts and he does not finish classes until 5:30 p.m. In addition, he usually misses the first 45 minutes of practice each day because of classes.
"This might be the best year for the number of classes he has," Walton said. "His schedule may get more and more difficult."
Lee Meyer said balancing his time between volleyball and architecture classes has been a difficult transition from high school, especially with not having as much practice time.
"I have less time to sit in and focus on volleyball, where in high school I did school for five, six straight hours and then I had a break and time to focus and practice and concentrate on what I want to accomplish," he said.
During the 2007 Fall Semester, Lee Meyer finished with better than a 3.5 grade point average. Also, he was named to the 2008 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Academic All-Conference Team on Tuesday.
Lee Meyer said along with volleyball, his family has always been serious about its education and his goal is to finish with at least a 3.6 GPA. As an undergraduate, Nick Meyer was made the All-MIVA Academic Team four times and had a 3.757 GPA entering his final semester at Ball State. In addition, Danielle Meyer was named two times to an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America team during her college career.
Despite the similarities with the siblings, one thing Lee Meyer wants to accomplish that his older brother didn't is winning a MIVA Championship, he said.
The last time Ball State won a conference championship was in 2002, one year before Nick Meyer joined the team.
Lee Meyer said the situation is similar to high school.
Playing his senior season for Moeller High School, Nick Meyer team's lost in game five of the state championship match. However, two years later, Lee Meyer as sophomore helped Moeller win the Ohio state championship, an achievement he credits to his older brother.
"I remember I said to him 'believe it or not you were as much of the team as I was. Had you played a different sport I probably would have,'" Lee Meyer said. "[To win the MIVA] would mean a lot to me personally and to my brother because he was the one of the most important factors to me coming here."
More important than a championship though, Lee Meyer said he wants his legacy at Ball State to be remembered for the type of person he was on the court and in the classroom.
"It would be better to be remembered as an individual than be remembered as the record holder for kills or digs," he said. "I'd rather be remembered for who I am."
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
