Outside attacker Patrick Rogers midway through the second game of the MIVA Tournament finals was stoic and unfazed on the court.
With the Worthen Arena crowd at a high-pitched frenzy and his teammates celebrating that Rogers had just delivered back-to-back aces, the senior simply walked back to the service line. Rogers then calmly from the line tossed the ball in the air and served yet another ace.
It has been a four-year college career for Rogers that has up until this point had not included an NCAA Tournament appearance, but had featured nearly everything else from postseason injury to having to transfer to Ball State because his initial college disbanded its program.
There simply just wasn’t going to be anything Saturday breaking Rogers’ focus from winning the MIVA championship and making the NCAA Tournament.
Rogers finished with both a match-high six aces and 16 kills and a .481 attack percentage as Ball State swept Loyola 25-22, 25-20, 25-20 to win the MIVA title and clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Rogers had an ace on the opening play of the finals and then had five aces in the final two games. The MIVA Player of the Year also capped off the victory with a game-high 10 kills in the final game, including three kills as part of a 6-2 run to close out the match.
Setter Lucas Machado guided the Ball State offense to out-hit Loyola .477 to .270. The Cardinals did not commit more than three attack errors in each of the three games, and the Ramblers finished with a season-low zero blocks.
Ball State had three players end with at least five kills and a .400 attack percentage.
Along with Rogers, outside attacker Wil Basilio had eight kills on a .636 attack percentage. Middle attacker Jacob Surette contributed five kills and hit. 571.
Basilio and Machado both also had a match-high four blocks.
Loyola opposite Alexksandar Sosa playing in his second match in two months because of an injury had eight kills. In addition, outside attacker Josh Schellinger had a team-high nine kills in the loss.
The Cardinals hit a match-best .565 attack percentage in the final game to complete the sweep.
Ball State trailed 13-9 before going on a 7-3 run. Rogers during that run had three kills and then an ace to tie the game at 16-16. Basilio three plays later added a kill to give Ball State a lead that it would not relinquish.
The Cardinals behind three consecutive aces from Rogers closed out the second game on an 8-3 run.
Ball State and Loyola were tied at 20-20 in the opening game before the Cardinals scored three consecutive points with a Rogers kill and two Loyola attack errors. The Cardinals also were able to close out the opener with a game-winning kill from Bassilio.
Ball State hit .450 in the first game highlighted with Rogers and middle attacker Jacob Surette each having a game-high four kills and committing one combined attack error.
Both Ball State and Loyola are both projected to NCAA Tournament, according to the latest Off the Block bracketology.
Ball State will receive the conference’s automatic berth and is projected to earn a top-four seed. Each of the top four seeds will be placed into separate regions to ensure they can not play each other until at least the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
Loyola is projected to receive an at-large bid but will be one of eight unseeded teams in the 12-team tournament and can be placed in any region against any opponent.
This is the first MIVA Tournament championship for the Cardinals since 2022. Ball State has won four of the last five MIVA regular season championships before was upset in both the 2023 and 2024 MIVA Tournament.