No. 14 Men’s Volleyball Earns 3-0 Sweep Over MIVA-In-State Rival Purdue Fort Wayne - Ball State University Athletics (2024)

MUNCIE, Ind. - In a battle between longtime in-state and Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) rivals, the No. 14 Ball State men's volleyball team (10-7, 3-1 MIVA) claimed a 3-0 sweep over Purdue Fort Wayne (7-6, 1-3 MIVA) Thursday night in Worthen Arena.

With the win, third-year head men's volleyball coach Donan Cruz remain undefeated against the Mastodons with an 8-0 record.

It came to no surprise that the first set would be a back-and-forth affair. The Cardinals were able to go up by three (20-17) after some defensive moves along with a Rodney Wallace kill at the net which kept BSU on pace with a 22-18 advantage over the Mastodons. It didn't take long for the Cardinals to come to set point and Tinaishe Ndavazocheva's kill sealed the 25-19 first frame victory for the Cardinals. Patrick Rogers was also on fire in the first period as he finished with a team high nine kills.

Purdue Fort Wayne jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second set and the Cardinals were visibly frustrated. Ball State kept within two points for the first part of the set but a triple block from Wallace, Rogers and Saviski-Lynde knotted the frame, 7-7.

After that, Ball State was able to turn the page and take a 15-12 advantage at the midway point. As always, the Mastodons continued to put up a fight, as Purdue Fort Wayne rallied back to take a late 18-17 lead over Ball State. Back-to-back kills from Rogers put BSU back up 22-20. The set was tied one more time at 24-24 but a service error by the Mastodons along with a hitting error gave BSU the 26-24 second set win.

With the Cardinals up 2-0 in the third frame the Mastodons were fighting for dear life. The score was knotted late 19-19 with Purdue Fort Wayne on a roll allowing the Mastodons to go up by two (21-19). Ball State answered with a 6-2 run to take set three 25-23 and complete the three-set sweep.

For the match, Rogers led all players with a season best 22-kill performance, while hitting .515 from the floor off 33 swings. Other Cardinals to reach double figure kills was Ndavazocheva as he ended the night with 10. As a team, the Cardinals best offensive set was the opening frame as BSU tallied a .481 hitting percentage with 18 kills and 27 attacks.

The No. 14 Ball State men's volleyball team continues MIVA action when it travels to No. 10 Loyola-Chicago for a 6 pm ET first serve at Gentile Arena. The Cardinals defeated the Ramblers in their first meeting in Muncie on Feb. 1 by a score of 3-1.