It's a new name, but' the same results for middle attacker Anders Nelson.
Nelson had a match-high four blocks and a team-high .556 attack percentage as Ball State University swept Carthage College 30-20, 30-22, 30-24 on Friday at Worthen Arena.
'[Friday] was just getting in good situations and our passes were giving me good situations to attack in,' Nelson said.
Going by Andy Nelson in his first year with Ball State, Nelson finished last season in conference's top 10 with 104 blocks and a .417 attack percentage. Prior to the start of this season, Nelson requested name change to the team because he preferred to go by Anders Nelson.
This was the first time in the last four matches Nelson had more than .400 attack percentage, including a seven kill .353 attack percentage against Grand Canyon University on Thursday.
Following that match, Nelson said the team discussed trying to get the middles more involved in the offense.
'Our middles needs to be one of the bigger parts of our offense so it's just kind of figuring out situations when I need to be up and situations when I need to be set the ball,' Nelson said.
Nelson, a junior, started playing volleyball competitively four years ago. After playing on the University of Minnesota club volleyball team for two season, Nelson transfered to Ball State before the start of the 2008 season.
Despite his limited time with Ball State, coach Joel Walton said Nelson is continuing to emerge as an offensive threat and leader on the team.
'We are starting to look at him as an upperclassmen despite him being in his second year with the team,' Walton said.
Walton said Nelson and setter Ethan Pheister were able to connect early in the match against Carthage, including several kills late in the first game.
'It's good to see from him and Ethan connect,' Walton said. 'There were several balls Ethan set and Andres hit at a high pace.
Walton said he wants to have the offense run through Nelson and all-conference starting middle attacker J.D. Gasparovic. The coach said, though, the two middle attackers can become even more productive offensively if Ball State can set more to its left outside attackers.
For the third consecutive match, Ball State had a different starting combination at the two left outside attacker positions.
Outside attacker Lee Meyer had a match-high 11 kills in his first start of the season, and freshman outside attacker Larry Wrather had one kill before being pulled midway through the first game for Marcus Imwalle. Imwalle finished the match with seven kills.
'It makes it hard to only hit successfully out of one or two positions,' Walton said. 'It's kind of head spinning for a defender to have think whether to go right or middle.'
Ball State out-hit the Division III team in the match .289 to .129 and had a .455 attack percentage in the first game.
'We got into a rhythm and I feel like for the first time this season we put together three solid games,' Nelson said.
With this victory, Ball State (4-1, 1-0 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) extended its winning streak to four matches. All of those wins have come against Division III teams and Grand Canyon University, which is playing its first season in the MIVA.
Ball State will play non-conference matches next weekend against George Mason University and Rutgers-Newark University before playing No. 13 Ohio State University on Feb. 5 at Worthen Arena.
The match against the Buckeyes will be rematch of last season's MIVA championship match.
Nelson said the Cardinals have been looking forward to that Ohio State match since the schedule was released. He also said the team are using these early matches to prepare for Ohio State.
'We are not looking past next week's match at all but we understand we need to improve every match we have, and I think [Friday] was definitely a step forward.'
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