Oh God, it’s gonna be a long couple of days. But you know I wouldn’t have it any other way. My exercise in sleep deprivation begins in Chicago for the MIVA semis between Ball State and Loyola. The other semi, Lewis/Grand Canyon, also had free video, but I found this to be the more compelling match.
After a stretch of sideouts, a service ace for Cody Caldwell to make it 4-2 was the first point on serve for either side. A little later, Shane Witmer returned the favour to make it even again at 5-all. Loyola took two in a row again from there to go ahead 7-5, and once again gave the Cardinals a point with a ball into the net, this time the serve of Peter Hutz. Another kill for Caldwell, against the imposing block of Matt Leske, made it three for the first time at 9-6 Ramblers. The margin stabilised at 2 for a time until Joe Smalzer‘s third kill, a deceptive roll shot, put them back up three at 13-10. The Ramblers reached 15 first with a kill from Thomas Jaeschke, but there was no automatic timeout. They went ahead 4 for the first time at 17-13 on a long hitting error by Greg Herceg.
Dainis Berzins, who I’m pretty sure was a starter earlier in the year, came in as a serving sub on 18-14. The Ramblers took the point on a hitting error from Jamion Hartley, and then another kill for Smalzer made it 20-14, prompting Ball State’s final timeout. Hartley and Leske came up with the double block to get them the sideout to 20-15, but they got no closer. Smalzer rotated to the service line and showed why he was named Off the Block’s Server of the Year, coming up with an ace and two further points to put his team up eight at 23-15. The Ramblers closed it out at 25-16. Honestly it probably wasn’t even that close. About half the Cardinals’ points came on Rambler service errors, they were out-killed 15-6, and didn’t record a single dig in the set.
Loyola started out strong again in set 2, with a couple of aces to start it off. Ball State came back even briefly, but Loyola edged ahead again at 6-4. The relatively diminutive Peter Hutz came up with a joust win on the rally ending 8-6, and then served up a ball that ended with a block for Jaeschke to put the Ramblers up three. The Cardinals responded with a run on Graham McIlvaine‘s serve to to come even again at 10, and Herceg’s kill off the block and out gave Ball State their first lead of the night. Something weird happened on the next rally, as it looked like Smalzer was going to tie the set at 11, but then my feed conked out. When it came back, it was 12-10 Cardinals as the teams emerged from a timeout. But no matter, as Nick Olson‘s fifth kill of the match made it 13-12 Ramblers again before the Cardinals got the sideout to even things once more.
14-13 was a long rally, with a blah ending as Hartley’s hit attempt went into the top of the tape (such that it might have been scored a block….you’re actually supposed to score it that way). Ball State then called time trailing by two. After the margin again stabilised at 2 for a while, Hartley’s long hit to make it 19-16 Loyola edged the Ramblers out again. Kevin Owens matched his effort, on the other side of the court, to make it 20-16 at Ball State’s last timeout. The Loyola roll continued after the timeout, with Eric Daliege and Joe Smalzer getting the big roof against Herceg to put the Ramblers up five. Ball State went to their serving sub David Ryan Vander Meer at 21-17. The point ended with a Rambler kill, though the Cardinals briefly protested it should have been called long. Hartley’s error on 22-18 gave the Ramblers a five-point lead, at which point Berzins came back in as Loyola’s serving sub. He successfully served out the set to send the teams to the locker rooms with Ball State up 2-0.
Over on twitter, ESPN’s Adam Amin, who’ll call the national championship and was in attendance at the match, noted that Ball State’s Hartley was having just a dreadful night at the office, hitting 5/7/19 for -.105 through two sets. Yowch. They can’t get that from him and win.
If the Cardinals made some adjustments in the locker room, they were good ones. Hartley still came out as a starter in the set (it sure wasn’t an obvious choice to do that), and if set 3 it was Ball State’s serving that ran circles around Loyola’s receive, rather than the reverse earlier in the match. Loyola called time trailing 5-1. They brought it back to within two at 8-6, at which point the margin stabilised for a while. Hartley looked a lot better in set 3 than in the first two, hitting just as hard as he did earlier but quite a lot smarter. Ball State edged ahead again four at 14-10 and Loyola’s second timeout. Olson’s middle attack off the quick set went long to put the Cardinals up five. 16-12 was a very long rally, ending with a right-hand ‘dunk’ for Hartley (he’s a lefty). He rotated out for a serving sub, who went on a nice run putting the Cardinals ahead 19-12 to effectively end any chance of a sweep on the Ramblers’ part tonight. After the Ramblers finally got the sideout, Jeff Patton, nicknamed ‘The General,’ rotated to the service line, and went on a little run of his own. With an ace to bring us to 19-15, Ball State burned their first timeout of the set.
Patton came up with another ace of the timeout, as the Ball State received just whiffed. Ball State got the sideout on the next rally and went back ahead five with McIlvaine, one of the nation’s better blocking setters, getting a solo against Trevor Novotny. The serve elicited an overpass, which was easily taken care of by Herceg. Ball State reached their first set point of the night at 24-17, with their serving ace, to coin a phrase, Vander Meer on the line. His one attempt went into the net, but Herceg finished off set 3 from the left side to send us to a 4th.
However well Hartley turned things around in set 3, he looked off again in the 4th. After two early errors, the Cardinals trailed 4-1 and called time. Coming back from the timeout, Daliege’s service ace put the Ramblers up four, and Herceg’s very long hit from the right side made it 6-1 Loyola. Hartley was again roofed on 6-1, and Smalzer snuck one in, his 13th of the night, on a crosscourt attempt to make it 8-1 Ramblers. Another kill for Smalzer prompted Ball State’s last timeout trailing 9-1. Coming back from that timeout, the Cardinals finally got the sideout on a service error by Daliege, but it was pretty much over already. Smalzer rotated to service with his team leading 10-2, which isn’t even fair. The Cardinals sided him out after two attempts, the first being an ace, which is actually better than I expected they’d do. The margin stabilised at 8-9 for a while. Smalzer made it 10 at 18-8 when he rotated back to serve again.
It looked like Loyola were just going to run away with it, but credit to Ball State for not simply playing out the string. They went on a late run already down big, forcing Loyola timeouts at 23-16 and 23-19. 23-19 was a great rally, with Rambler libero Peter Jassaitis coming up wit ha great diving dig only to set a hitting error on their side. On the next ball, Smalzer was blocked by Herceg and Hartley. A Herceg hitting error finally made it match point for Loyola, and a block by Nick Olson finished things.
#2 Loyola d. #3 Ball State (25-16, 25-18, 18-25, 25-21)
Big credit to Graham McIlvaine on that run on serve at the end of the match there. It was 23-14, and he brought them back to within 23-21, keeping every serve in bounds. But the elastic finally snapped, and Loyola advance. They will face the Lewis Flyers for the MIVA Championship and a ticket to the Final Four in Los Angeles. Lewis’ semifinal against Grand Canyon was held concurrently with this match, and ended earlier as Lewis won in a sweep.
The big star of the match was definitely Smalzer, with 15 kills, 3 service aces, and a lot of other serves to disrupt Ball State’s offence. Ball State’s 13-match winning streak at last ends, when they least wanted it to. They lose 3 starters from this team to graduation, so it’s tough to project them in 2014.
Loyola/Lewis is certainly a match I’m excited to see, and I’ll bring a write-up here for it. Congrats to the Ramblers for moving on to the MIVA finals.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
