The offense continued to roll for Ball State – even in a rivalry match.
Setter Lucas Machado guided the offense to a .400 attack percentage as No. 10/9 Ball State defeated No. 16 Ohio State 25-20, 26-28, 25-18, 25-23 on Thursday in Muncie, Indiana.
Ball State entered this match in front of a home crowd of 1,019 people with the nation’s third best attack percentage at .373. It is also the third time in the last four matches that the Cardinals have hit more .400.
No Ball State player had more than three attack errors and the Cardinals for the match had nine errors – 12 fewer errors than Buckeyes.
Outside attacker Patrick Rogers led all players with 16 kills on a .419 percentage. In addition, Rogers following the second-game loss had five kills and had a perfect 1.000 attack percentage in the third-game victory.
Opposite Ryan Louis ended with 11 kills, including a game-high four kills in the final game. Both outside attacker Wil Bassilio and Braydon Savitski-Lynde added seven kills and did not commit an attack error against the Buckeyes.
Along with the offensive performance, Machado contributed a match-high four aces.
Ohio State in the loss had a .315 attack percentage and four players with double-digit kills.
Outside attacker Stanislaw Chacinski had a team-high 13 kills, while middle attacker Aaron Grimm added 10 kills and zeros on a team-best .833 attack percentage.
Opposite Shane Wetzel also had 11 kills. Ball State had limited Wetzel to one kill and a negative attack percentage until late in the second game when Wetzel had three late kills to help secure the win.
Ohio State erased a three-point deficit late in the fourth game and then tied the game at 22-22. However, Ball State was able to recover and had kills from Basilio to retake the lead and then a match-winning kill from Machado.
Ball State had a match-best .600 attack percentage en route to a third-game victory. Machado along with running the offense had two aces in the game highlighted with an ace during a 4-1 run to start the game.
The Cardinals rallied from a 19-11 deficit in the second game and overcame a game-point opportunity to force overtime. Ball State fought off two more game-points in overtime, but Ohio State was able to close out the game with back-to-back kills from Wetzel and Chacinski.
Ball State led its opening-game victory by as many as six points before Ohio State went on a 6-2 run to tie the game at 18-18. The Cardinals, though, responded and scored the next three points, including Rogers having a kill and block on back-to-back plays.
Ball State with this victory remains in second place in the MIVA and can clinch a berth to the MIVA Tournament with one more win or a Northern Kentucky loss.