Usually when a player has career highs in kills, aces and digs, that person was expecting to see a bulk of the offense.
Not for sophomore outside attacker Marcin Niemczewski. His career night was as big of a surprise to him as it was to anybody at Worthen Arena.
It was the key component when Ball State knocked off Sacred Heart 25-20, 25-23 and 25-19 to get its first win of the season.
“Honestly, no,” he said laughing while speaking about whether he thought he would see the offense run through him. “I know I’ve been playing well in practice, but I was never expecting so many volleyballs, it was surprising.”
Niemczewski finished with 15 kills, eight more than senior Larry Wrather, who was second in kills. Niemczewski also had three aces and three digs.
He had seen very limited playing time leading up to the match. Last season, he played in five sets and saw time in one during Ball State’s season opening loss to UC Irvine.
Some of Niemczewski’s kills couldn’t have come at a better time. With the Cardinals attempting to take a 2-0 set lead, the visiting Pioneers tied the set at 21 and forced a timeout.
With momentum in the balance, Niemczewski threw down a kill to give his team the lead and ignite his teammates.
“If we aren’t setting up Marcin from the back row, teams can really load up on our middle,” Ball State head coach Joel Walton said. “I don’t know if we want to set him as much as we did tonight. … We were out of system a lot tonight, and he ended up being the recipient.”
He finished with 32 attacks, by far the most on the team. Five other players registered attacks, and Wrather came in second with 12. Niemczewski also contributed 10 attack errors, likely a result of his inexperience playing at the collegiate level.
He put a number of attacks either into the net or sailing too far, but usually followed up with a kill to make up for the previous error.
And when attacking 32 times, a number of errors are to be expected.
“I’d like to see a little better balance between our left sides and more sets going through our middle,” Walton said. “But I thought he did a really nice job producing offense for us tonight.”
His final kill gave Ball State a 19-12 lead in the third set, helping to increase a lead against an opponent that gave them trouble in the first two sets.
Leading 24-19, Ball State senior setter Graham McIlvaine rose up high, arms extended parallel to the net.
Sacred Heart’s Enzo Mackenzie sent an attack over the net, which slammed into McIlvaine’s arms and fell back on Sacred Heart’s side.
The exuberant McIlvaine punched the air with both arms, letting out a roar as his teammates went sprinting toward him.
McIlvaine’s emotions were on display, but it was Niemczewski that stole the show.
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