COLUMBUS, Ohio - Watching from the bench, the end of game two was a common tale for coach Joel Walton and the Ball State University men's volleyball team.
Leading 27-22 and three points away tying up the conference championship match at one game, Ball State blew the lead with eight combined serving and attacking errors as No. 10 Ohio State University won the game in overtime.
"We errored away game two," Walton said. "Our offense has continued to break down too often this season."
With the loss and Ohio State leading by two games, the rest of Ball State's season would go by quickly. Ohio State eliminated Ball State 30-25, 32-30, 30-19 in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tournament championship match Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.
Ohio State coach Pete Hanson said the turning point this championship match was his team's 10-3 run to win the second game. The MIVA Coach of Year also said his team benefitted with Ball State having a serving error and two attack errors in the four overtime points.
"That was a huge game for us to win. It could have been an entirely different match had it been one-to-one and Ball State had some confidence," Hanson said. "You go down 0-2 and you feel like you gave a game away, it's really tough to come out in that third game to come out and feel like you are in control."
In the third game, Ball State was held to a match-worst -.057 attack percentage. The Cardinals had less than a .110 attack percentage in all three games and were out-hit by the Buckeyes .224 to .054.
Walton said the reason for Ball State's offensive problems was its outside attacker, especially late in the second game.
"We got to develop some outside attackers that are capable of playing in these matches and producing numbers," he said.
In his final collegiate match, senior outside attacker Todd Chamberlain had a match-high 11 kills. The all-conference player was also the only Cardinal outside attacker to have more than six kills and an attack percentage more than zero.
Walton pulled both starting outside attackers Dominic Spadavecchio and Matt Sprague midway through the match. Spadavecchio had six kills and a -.053 attack percentage, and Sprague had one kill and a -.125 attack percentage.
Walton said because Ball State could not generate an offense from its outside attackers besides Chamberlain, Ohio State began to have multiple players block the senior.
"[Ohio State] was literally disrespecting our right side attackers at times," he said. "We had some attacks with no blockers and we weren't finding the court with those either."
Ohio State won all three matches against Ball State this season. In their two regular season matches, the Buckeyes won both times in five games.
It was also the second consecutive season Ohio State swept Ball State in the MIVA championship match.
Hanson said he is not why his team has been able to beat Ball State more easily in the conference tournament than in the regular season.
"I'm not real sure," he said. "It's playoff volleyball. Every point is magnified a bit more. You got to play with confidence. You got to play with belief in your ability to get it down."
Despite the teams' head-to-head record this season, libero Billy Ebel said the Cardinals were disappointed because they felt Ball State was a better team than Ohio State.
"We know who we are better than this team," he said. "We know we should have made it to the final four. It just sucks that we couldn't prove that to people."
Ebel had a match-high 14 digs in the loss and was one of three Cardinals named to the All-MIVA Tournament team. Chamberlain and middle attacker Andy Nelson, who had eight kills against Ohio State, also received the award for the first time in their careers.
With this loss, Ball State's streak of not winning a conference title extends to a program-worst seven years. In that seven-year stretch, the Cardinals lost three championship matches, including last season's MIVA title match against the Buckeyes.
Walton said his program has struggled in recent seasons because of a lack of funding and scholarships from the university. The coach also said his started to have significant problems since about half of its funding was cut in 2003.
"I feel that drought more than anyone else," he said. "The reality of it is we have done a dog-gone good job as a coaching staff as an alumni group trying to responsible resources but we are getting out-resourced by everyone in our conference."
Having won the MIVA championship, the Buckeyes will advance to the NCAA Final Four on Thursday in Provo, Utah. Hanson said his team will most likely be the No. 4 seed and either play No. 1 University of California, Irvine or No. 2 Pepperdine University.
With Ball State's season finished, Ebel said the Cardinals will try to start looking forward to next season and another chance to win a championship.
"I expect us to be back here next year," Ebel said.