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Freshman Ryan Louis started the match on the bench and ended it laying on the court being mobbed by teammates.
Louis inserted into the lineup late in the fourth game delivered the match-winning kill from the back row as No. 9/9 Ball State defeated No. 14 Lewis 21-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-23 on Thursday in Muncie, Indiana.
Along with the kill on Louis’ only attack attempt of the match, the pin-hitter from the service line helped the Cardinals win a point to set up a match-point opportunity.
Louis entered the match after two Ball State’s all-conference starters were sidelined with possible injuries. Outside attacker Tinaishe Ndavazocheva left the match midway through the third game, while opposite Raje Alleyne departed in the fourth game.
Despite the injuries, Ball State out-hit Lewis .339 to .223 to win the opener of the two-match conference series.
Alleyne and outside attacker Patrick Rogers each had a team-high 16 kills against the Flyers. Ndavazocheva added nine kills on a .571 attack percentage before having to be subbed out.
Both of Ball State’s starting middle attackers also hit at least .500 en route to the team’s sixth consecutive victory.
Braydon Savitski-Lynde had six kills on a .500 attack percentage, including two kills during a three-play span late in the final game that gave the Cardinals the lead. Will Patterson contributed six kills and zero attack errors on a match-best .667 attack percentage.
Lewis outside attacker Oguzhan Oguz in the loss finished with a match-high 19 kills and hit .389.
Oguz opened the match with a game-high six kills in the opening-game win. Ball State, though, was able to hold Oguz to three kills in the final game.
Outside attacker Max Roquet had 11 kills and in the fourth game surpassed the 1,000 career kills milestone.
The senior is now the 12th player in program history to have more than 1,000 career kills.