Jan. 25, 2008

Box Score

MUNCIE, Ind. - Five Flyers recorded double-digit kills but the Ball State Cardinals rallied to defeat Lewis 3-2 (17-30, 27-30, 30-28, 30-25, 15-13) in the Flyers' first Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association match of the season.

The Flyers ran out to an early 11-4 lead in game one and never looked back, out-hitting the Cardinals .481 to .111 in the opening game victory.

Lewis jumped out to another early lead in game two, grabbing a 9-3 lead. This time the Cardinals would rally back, eventually knotting it at 19 and taking a 21-20 advantage. With the score tied at 27 a Ball State serving error and kills by junior Drew Pickering and sophomore Mike Iandolo gave the Flyers a 2-0 advantage.

The Cardinals held a 24-16 lead in game three when the Flyers went on an 11-0 run to get right back in it. Two service aces by Iandolo and four kills by senior Jared Dayton highlighted the run that put the Flyers up by three. But Ball State scored the following four points to grab a 28-27 advantage. The Flyers tied it on a kill by junior Alex Vigansky but two straight points by the Cardinals pushed it to game four.

With the scored tied at 15 in game four the Cardinals pulled away with a 6-2 run. The Flyers rallied to get within one point at 21-20 but a 4-0 streak by the Cardinals followed and forced a fifth game.

It looked like the Flyers might pull it out after taking a 5-1 lead early on. But the Cardinals chipped away at the lead, knotting it at eight and taking their first lead at 10-9 on a block by Todd Chamberlain and J.D. Gasparovic of a kill attempt by freshman Brian Muesenfechter. The Flyers would tie it at 12 and 13, but Ball State ended the match with kills by Matt McCarthy and Eric Shulte to pull out the victory.

Dayton had a match high 21 kills while also adding seven digs and four blocks. Vigansky notched 13 kills, two aces and set a career high with 12 blocks (two solo). Pickering had 12 kills, seven digs and five block assists. Sophomore Nathan Klaas added 11 kills with only one error to hit .556 for the night. Junior Billy Sahagian also had double-digit kills with ten. Iandolo tallied 61 assists, 11 digs, three aces and six blocks (two solo). Junior Nick Perakes recorded a match high 13 digs.

Lewis out-blocked Ball State 20 to 13.5, but the Cardinals out-hit the Flyers .300 to .269. Lewis fell to 3-3 (0-1 MIVA). Ball State improved to 3-5 (2-1 MIVA).

The Flyers are back in action next Friday when they play at Ohio State in a MIVA match.