About 40 minutes after the match finished, coach Joel Walton sat on top of press row staring at the Worthen Arena court.
After suffering what Walton called one of his worst losses in recent years, the 11th-year coach said he was still searching for answers.
The No. 13 Ball State University men's volleyball team lost in three games to George Mason University on Thursday. It was the Cardinals' (1-4, 1-0 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) fourth-consecutive loss in non-conference play and the second loss to an unranked team this season.
"It was gut-wrenching to sit there and watch our team play timid and non-aggressive and not know the trick to get them to turn it around," Walton said. "Right now that continues to be one of the things that we are trying to find, the group of players who can go out and play with passion."
George Mason outhit Ball State .380 to .235, including a .484 attack percentage against the Cardinals in the second game. The Cardinals also had six serving errors in the first game and finished with 11 serving errors - one more than the Patriots.
Setter Ethan Pheister said Ball State played the entire match afraid to make a mistake. The all-conference setter also said he promises the Cardinals will never play again like they did against the Patriots.
"I'm not going to come out scared anymore. I'm going to come out wanting to win. I'm not just going to place my serves in. I'm not going to make the safe play. I'm going to do what I have to do to make sure that we win. I'm not going to let us lose anymore," Pheister said.
Thursday was the second time in three home matches that Ball State was swept. In the last two seasons, Ball State was swept at home once and three times had comeback from two-game deficits to win matches in five games.
Unlike those other comebacks, though, Pheister said the team continued to play scared and not take risks Thursday.
"It was in everyone's hope but no one came out that third game with any fire, myself included," he said. "We didn't come out playing any different or doing anything different."
Walton said the team struggled to consistently play with any amount of passion in front of a season-low attendance of 706 people. The coach also said despite a good week in practice, there was little sense of passion during the team's workouts.
"It was a quiet week," Walton said. "There wasn't a whole lot of talk, chatter in the gym. There wasn't a whole lot of energy. Maybe the tone of how we are practicing needs to be changed so we can get more energy on match nights."
George Mason (3-1, 1-0 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) had five players with at least seven kills, including outside attacker Kyle Gramit, who had a match-high 14 kills. George Mason also had 13 blocks as Ball State had a season-low two blocks.
Walton said the Cardinals were outplayed in the loss. He also said George Mason's digging and blocking abilities were a large difference.
"We would go up and take big swings, and they would make great plays on some of our best attackers," Walton said.
The Cardinals' next match will be against Rutgers-Newark University starting 7:30 p.m. tonight at Worthen Arena.
Despite the loss, Pheister said there is not a sense of panic among the players because they will learn from the George Mason loss.
"We have to realize we are not good enough to come out and just let teams fold for us," Pheister said. "We have to come out wanting to win in order for us to win."
Related StoriesDN/WCRD Postgame ExtraServing errors lead to Cards downfallHow the top 15 have fared
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
