No. 11 BYU pulls off another road upset, knocks off No. 8/9 Ball State

Photo courtesy of BYU athletics

The service game for No. 11 BYU resulted in another road upset.

BYU finished with nine aces as it rallied to beat No. 8/9 Ball State 24-26, 25-23, 25-21, 27-25 on Thursday in Muncie, Indiana, to open a two-match non-conference series.

This performance was one ace shy of tying season high for the Cougars (6-1, 0-0 MPSF). BYU had 10 aces in a five-game victory against No. 7/6 UC Irvine on Friday for its first of two consecutive wins versus top-10 nationally ranked teams.

BYU had a match-best four aces in the fourth game to secure the win against Ball State, including middle attacker Gavin Julien having an ace in overtime to set up the match-point.

Julien led all players with three aces and was one of three Cougars with multiple aces. Both opposite Kupono Browne and outside attacker Miks Ramanis added two aces.

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Ball State (4-3, 0-0 MIVA) had two aces and 16 service errors – nine more service errors than the Cougars.

Despite the loss, Ball State out-hit BYU .353 to .287 and hit more than .400 in two of the four games.

Outside attacker Tinaishe Ndavazocheva led all players with 24 kills on a .476 attack percentage. Ndavazocheva had a game-high seven kills in the team’s first-game win and did not commit an attack error until late the second game.

All-American outside attacker Kaleb Jenness also had 19 kills, while middle attacker Vanis Buckholz added nine kills and zero errors on a .643 attack percentage.

Ball State out-blocked BYU 12 to 9.5 with Buckholz having a team-high six blocks.

BYU had three players with double-digit kills, including Ramanis who had 16 kills on a .333 attack percentage. In addition, outside attacker Luke Benson had 15 kills and hit .429 and Browne contributed 13 kills.

BYU overcame late-game deficits to win both the third and fourth games.

The Cougars trailed 19-17 in the third game before going on a 7-0 run that featured two aces from Ramanis. BYU also fought off two game-points in the fourth game and won the match in overtime on a Ball State attack error.

This loss ends Ball State’s four-match winning streak and a 12-match home winning streak that dated back to last season.