No. 13 Ball State Men's Volleyball Scores 3-1 Win At Carthage

KENOSHA, Wis. - - The 13th-ranked Ball State men's volleyball team picked up its first win of the 2010 season with a 3-1 (22-30, 30-24, 31-29, 30-26) victory over Carthage Saturday night at Tarble Arena.

   With the win, the Cardinals improve to 1-1 (0-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) on its season-opening three match road trip. The Red Men fall to 1-2 while playing their third match in the past four days.

   Ball State's explosive middle combination of juniors J.D. Gasparovic (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville H.S.) and Anders Nelson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls H.S.) provided a bulk of the offense, scoring 16 and 13 kills, respectively. Gasparovic finished the match hitting .500 (16-4-24), while Nelson hit .550 (13-2-20) and added a match-best eight total blocks.

   Lee Meyer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller H.S.) also posted double-digit kills for BSU, finishing the match with 10.

   Tom O'Connell paced the Red Men attack with a match-high 20 kills, while Randy Hansen added 18.

   In the backcourt, the Cardinals' Billy Ebel led all players with 15 digs, while Carthage's Mike Bynon collected a team-high 14 digs.

   Overall, the Cardinals were able to out-hit the Red Men .187 (58-32-139) to .169 (57-33-142) in the victory, while holding a 47-to-44 advantage in digs. Ball State also held a 13.5-to-7 lead in total blocks.

   Gasparovic opened the match with a kill for the Cardinals, only to see the Red Men capitalize on three BSU errors and a John Condon service ace to take a 4-1 lead. Moments later, the hosts would extend their advantage to five points, at 9-4, thanks to a block assists from Condon and Tim Walker.

   A block from Gasparovic and Dominic Spadavecchio (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd H.S.) helped BSU battle within three, at 10-7. Unfortunately, Carthage scored eight of the next 11 points and never looked back, winning the set 30-22 on a Hansen kill.

   A Spadavecchio kill and an Ethan Pheister (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.) service ace got the Cardinals off to a hot start in the second game, as they played to a 6-1 advantage. Ball State's lead remained five at the 10-5 mark thanks to a Nelson kill, but three BSU errors and a kill from O'Connell helped Carthage rally within one at 10-9.

   The Red Men eventually tied the set at 12, only to have a kill from Gasparovic, an attack error and another ace from Pheister push the score to 15-12. The Cardinals doubled their lead at the 23-17 mark after a service ace from Meyer, before winning the frame 30-24 on a Carthage attack error.

   Ball State carried over the momentum into the third frame, posting the first three points thanks in part to a Spadavechio kill and a block assist from Gasparovic and Eric Schulte (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood H.S.). A kill from Nelson extended the Cardinals' lead to four points at the 10-6 mark, only to see a kill from Hansen and an O'Connell and Matt Yanz block assist tie the frame at 11.

   O'Connell followed with a kill, giving the hosts their first lead of the frame, at 12-11,and forcing a Ball State timeout. A service error tied the set after the minute rest, and from there, the teams battled to a 19-19 stalemate. A 6-2 run from Carthage broke the tie and moved the score to 25-21, only to see the Cardinals answer back with the next four points and tie the set at 25 on a Schulte service ace.

   A kill from O'Connell gave the hosts a 26-25 edge, but an attack error, a Meyer ace and a BSU triple block reversed the momentum and gave the visitors from Muncie a 28-26 lead. A Walker kill and back-to-back markers from O'Connell gave Carthage the first set point, only to see a kill from Larry Wrather (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest H.S.) tie the frame at 29.

   Following a Red Men attack error, which gave Ball State its first swing at the game, a Gasparovic kill ended the frame at 31-29 in favor of the Cardinals.

   A pair of kills from both Gasparovic and Meyer helped the Cardinals pull out to a 4-1 lead early in the fourth game. While two quick kills from Carthage cut the gap to one, at 4-3, the Cardinals responded with an 8-3 run to pull ahead by six at 12-6.

  The Red Men battled back within two points at 15-13, only to see kills from Meyer and Nelson extend the Ball State lead back to four at 17-13. The Cardinals maintained the four-point lead at 25-21 after another Nelson marker, only to have three errors help Carthage rally within one at 25-24.

   After a timeout, kills from Schulte and Wrather helped BSU push the score to 27-24. Four rallies later, a Gasparovic kill gave the Cardinals match point at 29-26. Wrather followed with a match-winning kill for Ball State at 30-26.

   The Ball State men's volleyball team concludes its season-opening three match road swing Sunday afternoon with a 3 p.m. (CT) first service at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.