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Opposite Tyler Howard made the most of the opportunity – especially for someone who had been set a total of 11 times this entire season.
Howard inserted into the starting lineup following warmups finished with 15 kills on a .440 attack percentage as No. 9/7 Loyola defeated No. 12 Ball State 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-20 on Friday in Muncie, Indiana.
The redshirt freshman made his first career start in place of All-American pin-hitter Parker Van Buren, who was out for the conference road match. Van Buren entered the weekend third in the nation with a 4.36 kills per game average and had at least 20 kills in four of the Ramblers’ last six matches.
Loyola out-hit Ball State .394 to .252 and had three players finish with double-digit kills.
Along with Howard, outside attacker Daniel Fabikovic ended with match-high 19 kills on a .378 attack percentage. Fabikovic also had a game-high seven kills in the second game to help jumpstart the Ramblers’ comeback win.
Outside attacker Jake Read added 10 kills, while middle attacker Brad Bell had seven kills and zero errors on a team-best .583 attack percentage.
Ball State outside attacker Tinaishe Ndavazocheva in the loss had 13 kills and hit .417. This was the first match for Ndavazocheva since being sidelined for almost three weeks with an injury
Opposite Raje Alleyne led Ball State with 15 kills but was limited to a .176 attack percentage.
Loyola hit more than .400 in each of the final two games to secure the victory and move within a match of first-place in the MIVA.
The Ramblers had a match-best .464 attack percentage in the fourth game. Loyola led the game 17-16 before going on a 7-2 run that was capped off with an ace from Lukas Anderson.
Loyola in its third-game victory hit .429 and committed two attack errors. Howard finished with a game-high five kills and delivered a block to put Loyola at game-point.
Ball State had a combined 13 attack and service errors in the third game – eight more errors than Loyola.
The Cardinals led by as many as six points early in the second game, but the Ramblers fought back to take the lead at 18-17. Loyola closed out the game on a 6-2 run to even the match.
Ball State rallied from a three-point deficit midway through the first game and took the lead with a 5-1 run that featured back-to-back kills from middle attacker Vanis Buckholz. Outside attacker Patrick Rogers also had three kills late in the game to help secure the win and led all players with six kills in the game.
Ball State with this loss drops into fourth place in the MIVA but is still within two matches of first-place No. 11/10 McKendree.