MATCH STATS
- #5 Loyola Def. #12 Ball State 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 29-27)
- #5 Loyola 18-4; #12 Ball State 13-10
- Chicago, Illinois (Gentile Arena)
- Box score
CHICAGO, Ill. – The Loyola Ramblers hosted the Ball State Cardinals on Thursday night, and the Ramblers pulled off the sweep in Gentile Arena after being defeated by the Cardinals previously in the season. The only MIVA loss Loyola has suffered in 2018 was a 3-1 loss to Ball State on February 17th.
Leading the Loyola offense was senior outside hitter, Ricky Gevis, with 10 kills and zero errors on a .556 clip. Collin Mahan also had an impressive offensive performance with 9 kills on a .200 hitting percentage. Setter Garrett Zolg ran the offense with 30 assists and added two kills.
Ball State was led by Matt Szews (.138) and Matt Walsh (.417) with 12 and seven kills, respectively. The Cardinal offense was held to a .138 clip. Setter, Jake Romano, delivered 34 assists and added three digs and two kills.
The Ramblers will return to play on Saturday night where they will host Fort Wayne in their final home regular season match. The Cardinals will also play again on Saturday, traveling to Romeoville where they will face Lewis.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy of Loyola Athletics
In Short…
Ricky Gevis tallied 10 kills including the match clincher to lead No. 6 Loyola to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 29-27) victory over No. 11 Ball State on Thursday at Gentile Arena. The win is Loyola’s third straight over a ranked opponent and the Ramblers improve to 18-4 and are 8-1 in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Assocation play. Ball State falls to 13-10 and are 6-3 in conference play.
The Loyola win avenges the Ramblers’ lone conference loss which came at Ball State on Feb. 17.
How it Happened:
In the first set, the Ramblers found themselves down 6-9 and went on an 8-5 run which tied set at 14. The teams traded points and knotted at 20, Loyola benefited from a Cardinals’ service error and kills from Collin Mahanand Gevis gave the Ramblers a 23-21 advantage. Loyola’s dynamic defense stuffed Ball State twice for the win.
Loyola carried its momentum into the second set and hit a blistering .522 with 16 kills in a decisive 25-20 victory. Gevis and Ryan Jamison led the Ramblers with four kills each.
Coming out of the break, Loyola continued to fire on all cylinders and jumped out to a 13-8 advantage.
The Cardinals battled back and forced the Ramblers to call a timeout down, 16-15. The two teams continued to trade points and Ball State saw set point at 24-22, but a kill from Jamison forced a Cardinal timeout and pulled the Ramblers back within two. An attack error tied the set at 24.
Jeff Jendryk gave the Ramblers their first set-point with a monster solo block, but a Cardinal kill quieted the Gentile Arena crowd.
There were three more ties before another Ball State attack error would give the Ramblers match point at 28-27 and a Gevis kill gave Loyola the win.
Looking at the Numbers:
– Loyola outhit Ball State .325 (36-11-77) to .138 (38-26-87).
– Garrett Zolg dished out 30 assists.
– Loyola out-blocked the Cardinals 7.5-2.0
Up Next:
Loyola plays its final home match of the season on Saturday, March 23 when it welcomes No. 15 Fort Wayne for a 7 p.m. match. The Ramblers will honor seniors Jake Selsky, Ricky Gevis, Ryan Jamison, and Jeff Jendryk before the match.
Courtesy of Ball State Athletics
CHICAGO, Ill.—The 11thranked Ball State men’s volleyball team traveled to Chicago in hopes of picking up another MIVA win against No. 6 Loyola. The Cardinals had not won at Loyola since the 1999 season and that streak continued Thursday night. Ball State fell to the Ramblers in a sweep (25-21, 25-20, 29-27).
As a team, Ball State had 38 kills on 38 assists. The Cardinals were only able to hit for .138 while the Ramblers had a hitting percentage of .325. Ball State added 29 digs, four blocks and four service aces. Matt Szews led the team in kills with 12 along with two service aces and one assist. Blake Reardon and Matt Walsh each had seven kills. Walsh had a .417 hitting percentage along with a service ace, an assist and a block. Mitch Weiler had five digs, which led the team. Weiler, Parker Swartz and Anthony Lebryk each finished the night with three kills apiece. Jake Romano had 34 assists plus four digs. Adam Wessel and Ben Chinnici both also had four digs in the contest.
The opening set went to the Ramblers, 25-21. Reardon led the way in kills for Ball State with five. Wessel had four digs in that set while Romano added 10 assists. The set saw 12 tied scores and 5 lead changes, but Loyola took the set due to a poor hitting percentage by the Cardinals.
Ball State hit better in set two with 10 kills and a .333 hitting percentage. Walsh and Szews each had three kills in the set with two added by Reardon. However, the Ramblers had 16 kills for a .522 hitting percentage. A Ball State service error eventually gave the second set to Loyola, 25-20.
In the third set, the Cardinals scored the first point of the set. Ball State was then down by as much as five points before making a rally to come back. The Cardinals were able to force a Loyola timeout with the score of 16-15 in favor of Ball State. The set then turned into a back-and-forth battle forcing extra volleyball in the set. Despite a strong rally comeback from the Cardinals, Loyola took set three by a score of 29-27. Szews had a set-high eight kills in that set. Lebryk added three kills to the stat sheet with two added by both Walsh and Romano.
The Ball State men’s volleyball team now moves to 13-10 on the season with a 6-3 MIVA record. The Cardinals will take a day break from action before returning to conference play at No. 10 Lewis. Ball State will travel to Romeoville on Saturday, March 24 at 8 p.m. ET.
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