Hawks fall short against Ball State

(Quincy, Ill.) The Quincy University fell short in their upset bid over Ball State University on Friday night, dropping the match 3-2. Quincy lost the first two sets before storming back to even the match up and held a lead in the fifth set but were unable to close the match out for the win.

Quincy showed their fight in the first set taking a 7-4 lead to start and holding the lead until late. Ball State took their first lead of the set at 26-25 as the Cardinals offense finally found their footing, hitting .333 in the game, and closing the game out for a 30-26 win. The Hawks again led early in game two only to see Ball State explode on an 11-3 run to pull away and go on for a 30-21 win.

The Hawks powered their way to a win in game three, opening up the contest mid-way through and finishing off the Cardinals 30-22 on a kill from Joe Sokol. The Hawks stout defense helped them break the shutout as they recorded 3.5 total team blocks in the third game. Quincy had their best hitting performance of the night in the fourth set, hitting .344 with 16 kills in a 30-22 win.

The Hawks appeared to be headed for the upset win when they led 12-9 in the fifth set but committed a service error to give the serve back to Ball State. That was all the hope the Cardinals needed as they closed out Quincy 15-13 for the win. Quincy hit .240 as a team in the match and committed 27 service errors in the match.

The Hawks were led by Joe Sokol who recorded 18 kills while Peter Coley added 16 kills and Joe Asher finished with 14 kills. Dan Dresen paced the Hawks with 55 assists and Tanner Wright added 16 digs. Quincy falls to 2-5 overall and 0-2 in the MIVA while Ball State improves to 7-2 overall and 2-2 in the MIVA.