Entering game five, it did not take the Ball State University men's volleyball team long to make a statement.
With George Mason University setting its middle attacker on the decisive game's opening point, Ball State middle attacker Andy Nelson read the play and jumped in front of the kill attempt for his only solo block in the match.
The play would set the defensive tempo for the rest of the match.
Holding the Patriots to a negative attack percentage and six points in the final game, the Cardinals won the match 19-30, 32-30, 30-27, 28-30, 15-6 on Saturday in Fairfax, Va.
"It's a good way to start the game," Nelson said. "A solo block doesn't happen that often and for it to happen there it was big."
Nelson said he had a hunch before the opening game-five play that George Mason would try to set its middle attacker because of game-opening points earlier in the match. In the first and third games, George Mason received Ball State's opening serve and got the game's first point after setting the ball to a middle attacker.
"I just took a shot and I was right," Nelson said. "The way we rallied around it was great. They made errors, and our defense pressured them to make mistakes."
In the final game, the Patriots had six attack errors as Ball State out-hit George Mason .600 to -.111. The nine-point win is also the Cardinals' largest margin of victory in a fifth game since the 1986 season.
Coach Joel Walton said the Cardinals (13-7, 4-3 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) got into a good defensive rhythm throughout the entire fifth game. He also said the defense in game five was the best his team played against George Mason (9-9, 3-3 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association).
"It's one of those things," Walton said. "It couldn't happen at a better time. That defensive rhythm put pressure on George Mason."
Ball State finished the match with a season-high five players having at least 10 kills. Outside attacker Matt Sprague led Ball State with 19 kills. Nelson also had 11 kills and a match-high .611 attack percentage.
Nelson said setter Ethan Pheister did a good job keeping the offense balanced. The redshirt sophomore transfer from Minnesota also said Pheister made the middle attackers more involved in the offense after its 11-point loss in the first game.
"He focused on making us primary parts of the offense, and it was nice knowing that he had that much confidence in us," Nelson said.
This was Ball State's first five-game victory in its last four attempts. The Cardinals lost three conference matches in five games last week to drop to third place in the MIVA and most likely get eliminated from the regular season title.
Walton said winning a five-game match is a big relief for the entire team.
"This definitely will help with our confidence," he said. "I don't know if it will be the determining factor when we are getting our matches late this season, but it's nice to get the monkey off our backs."
With this win, Ball State extends its winning streak to three matches. Its next match will be against No. 14 Ohio State University on Friday at Worthen Arena - a team Ball State lost to in five games last week.
As the team traveled back to Muncie on Saturday night, Nelson said that the team was already starting to look forward to playing the defending conference champion Buckeyes again.
"It's going to be huge," he said. "Everyone is very excited to get another shot at Ohio State because we felt like we didn't play our best the first time we played them."
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