MEN'S VOLLEYBALL: Cardinals' woeful serving leads to sweep by visiting Buckeyes
February 6, 2010Ohio State has now won 13 of their 16 matches with Ball State, and coach Joel Walton believes that recent history is giving the Buckeyes a mental edge.
Ohio State has now won 13 of their 16 matches with Ball State, and coach Joel Walton believes that recent history is giving the Buckeyes a mental edge.
With Brittany McGinnis, Christie Waters and Andrea Felton now out, four of the six players from coach Dave Boos' 2008 recruiting class are now no longer with the program, joining former defensive specialist Emily Fisher, who left the team at the conclusion of the 2008-09 season. Only defensive specialist Kaylee Schembra and middle blocker Jennifer Boyd remain with the team.
Ball State was led by its experience in the middle. Juniors J.D. Gasparovic (16 kills, .500 hitting percentage) and Anders Nelson (13, .550) led the Cardinals' offense. On defense, Billy Ebel had a match-high 15 digs, while Nelson had eight blocks.
For complete coverage of Friday night's match, read Saturday's online edition of The Ball State Daily News.
This was the second time in the last three seasons Loyola has swept Ball State in Alumni Gym. Their defeat of the Cardinals in 2008 was one of two conferences losses for Ball State that season.
In addition to Hartley having the highest vertical jump on the team, Walton said the 19-year-old outside attacker has quickly emerged as one of Ball State's most physical players. The coach also said Hartley has the talent to become an elite outside attacker in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.
The winds of change have swirled over the Ball State University women's volleyball team. Over Winter Break, assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Hugh Hernesman accepted the co-head coaching position with wife, Stephanie, at Northwestern State University.
Women's volleyball coach Dave Boos pleased to be back at Ball State for the 2010 season.
Boos' five-member class is the second largest of his three-year tenure at Ball State.
All last week there was an aura surrounding Ball State women's volleyball (15-15, 7-9) coach Dave Boos. There was an extra spring in his step and a big smile on his face — a smile that was missing for several weeks.Winning five of six and four straight will do that for anyone, especially when a four-game high matches the best streak of the season.
Ball State sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Brandl was named the Mid-American Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Monday afternoon. This marks the second time this season that Brandl has been recognized for excellence on the court.
It took five sets to settle it, but Ball State won the battle Saturday night in Akron, defeating the University of Akron 3-2. As fate would have it however, it's not over by a long shot. In defeating the Zips, the Cardinals earned the eight seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament. Securing the eight seed sets up a showdown between the Cardinals and Zips at 7 p.m. tonight at Worthen Arena.
With two games left in the season, destiny was on Ball State University's (14-15, 7-9) side. Win both matches and the Cardinals earn the right to host a Mid-American Conference Tournament game Tuesday night. Lose one of the two matches and things could get messy.
In the first set, the Cardinals faced an early hole when they found themselves down 17-12. But Ball State was eventually able to even the score at 22 and win the set 25-23, finishing the game on a 13-6 run. Sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Brandl recorded seven kills in the first set, setting the tone for the Cardinals (13-15, 6-9 Mid-American Conference).
Ball State utilized a balanced offensive attack that saw increased success as the match went on. The Cardinals had a .184 attack percentage in the first set, a .227 percentage in the second set and a .317 rate in the third.
The Cardinals (13-15, 6-9 MAC) were led on offense by sophomore Kelsey Brandl's match-high 14 kills. Junior outside hitter Hannah Sullivan had 13 kills, while senior Alisha Green added 12 kills in her final regular season home match.Defensively for Ball State, junior libero Alyssa Rio had a match-best 23 digs.
Emotions will be high with it being the final regular season, and potentially the final home match, for seniors Alisha Green, Julie Breivogel and Elania Kakatolis, which could make for high-error volleyball, which is not something the Cardinals can afford to let happen.
Ball State University men's volleyball starter Billy Ebel watched as the Southwood High School girl's volleyball team scored to tie Burris Laboratory School in a state championship match Saturday. With the score at 12 in the third set, Ebel got up quickly from his seat among the Burris assistant coaches and walked quickly to the sidelines to yell defensive instructions to the girls, who risked blowing their two-game lead in their biggest match of the season.
Junior libero Alyssa Rio was named the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Week Monday afternoon. She is the first Cardinal player to earn the defensive award this season. Rio's combined performance over the weekend against Eastern Michigan University and Central Michigan University earned her the honor. Against Eastern Michigan Friday, Rio posted a season-high 34 digs. She followed that performance up with a 19 dig effort Sunday in helping the Cardinals to a 3-0 sweep of Central Michigan while holding the Chippewas to a -.412 hitting percentage in the third set, the lowest output by a Ball State opponent in rally scoring.
