The week just got a lot worse for the Ball State University men's volleyball team.
Six days after losing to a Division II team Quincy University, Ball State lost to No. 7 Penn State University 30-18, 30-15, 30-22 on Friday in University Park, Pa.
This was Ball State's most lopsided loss of the season. It was also the second time during the rally scoring era that the Cardinals failed to score at least 20 points in two games of a three-game match.
"[Friday] was about our team not showing up," Ball State coach Joel Walton said during a postgame press conference. "We let Penn State do things they were really good at."
Walton declined to take questions from The Ball State Daily News during the press conference. In addition, the coach declined to speak to the Daily News following a closed-door team meeting after the press conference.
Ball State (7-4, 2-3 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) had a negative attack percentage after the first two games and finished the match with a season-low .079 attack percentage.
The second game also tied for the fewest points Ball State had scored in a 30-point game during the rally scoring era.
This was the second consecutive match the Nittany Lions (9-2, 4-0 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) have held the Cardinals to less than 20 points in a game. Penn State swept Ball State last season at Worthen Arena, including a 30-16 win the third game.
Entering the third game Friday, Penn State had a chance to become the first team in the rally scoring era to keep Ball State from getting 20 points during every game of a match. However, Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said his team never thought about holding Ball State to less than 20 points.
"We never really talked about that number and the points scored. We talked about continuing to play at a high level," Pavlik said. "The Cardinals did much better than in game one and two. They earned the points they got."
Penn State hit a match-high .750 attack percentage in the third game . This was the highest attack percentage Ball State has allowed in a game in more than three years.
The Nittany Lions finished the match with a season-high .566 attack percentage — more than .300 percentage points above the Cardinals' opposing attack percentage season average.
Pavlik said his team is continuing to play better every week, especially after defeating the top-ranked Canadian team the University of Laval last week.
"I thought we picked up right where we were after Laval," he said.
Three Penn State players had at least 12 kills in the victory, including outside attacker Will Price who had a match-high 15 kills.
Coming off the bench midway though the second game, Ball State outside attacker Eric Schulte finished with a team-high six kills.
On the defensive side, the Cardinals had a season-low 12 digs as a team. The Nittany Lions more than double up the Cardinals with 28 digs.
Ball State libero Billy Ebel had a team-high three digs.
With this victory, Penn State is on a nine-match winning streak against Ball State and has 53 consecutive home win. The last time the Nittany Lions lost to the Cardinals in January 2006 was also their last home loss.
The two teams will play one more time during the regular season April 1 at Worthen Arena.
Pavlik said he doesn't expect that match to be as easy as Friday's sweep.
"They are so much better at home, " he said. "I'm sure coach Walton will have them looking much better in a month and a half."
Ball State concludes its road trip Saturday night against St. Francis University.
"St. Francis, they are rude fans in the way that they pick on people," Ebel said during Wednesday's practice. "They make fun of anything they possibly can and being a private school you wouldn't expect that."
Editor-in-chief Vinnie Lopes contributed to this story
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