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Pin-hitter Parker Van Buren playing in front of the largest home crowd of the season delivered a championship-worthy performance.
Van Buren finished with a match-high 22 kills on a .359 attack percentage as No. 6/6 Loyola defeated No. 17 Ball State 25-23, 27-29, 25-22, 25-1 on Saturday in Chicago to win a share of the MIVA regular season title.
The senior opened the match with a combined 14 kills in the first two games. Van Buren also did not commit an attack error in the final game to help secure the regular-season finale victory in front of 1,879 people in attendance.
This was the fifth conference match this season that Van Buren had at least 20 kills. Van Buren entered the weekend leading the conference and fourth in the nation with a 4.28 kills per game average.
Loyola out-hit Ball State .299 to .271 en route to earning the program’s first co-MIVA regular season championship since 2022.
Outside attacker Daniel Fabikovic contributed 13 kills, including having six kills in the second game. In addition, Jake Read had 11 kills on a .350 attack percentage.
Read added two aces as the Ramblers had eight aces – seven more aces than the Cardinals.
Ball State middle attacker Will Patterson in the loss finished with a match-high seven blocks, while outside attacker Patrick Rogers contributed five blocks.
Rogers also had a team-high 12 kills in the team’s third consecutive loss to close out the regular season.
Ball State before this match had already clinched the No. 5 seed for the MIVA Tournament and will play the No. 14 Lewis in the quarterfinals. Loyola will play the No. 8 seed Queens in its quarterfinals match.
Loyola finished tied with No. 12/10 McKendree for first place in the MIVA. The Ramblers held the tiebreaker over the Bearcats to receive the No. 1 seed and home court advantage throughout the conference tournament.