Cardinals beat Pepperdine for ticket to national Final Four
By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – Riverview Health Arena at Innovation Mile is still putting together its list of “firsts,” adding another one this past weekend when it was the site of the NCAA men’s volleyball regional, hosted by Ball State University.
The Cardinals brought their home volleyball floor as well as the excitement when it faced Pepperdine in the Saturday, May 2 regional championship. In an epic match, Ball State outlasted the Waves in five sets, staring down two match points to win the regional and qualify for this weekend’s national Final Four in Los Angeles.
The regional would have taken place at Worthen Arena, the home of the Cardinals, but it coincided with Ball State’s commencement activities, thus the move to the Arena.
“We started tracking our host chances several weeks ago,” said Jeff Mitchell, Ball State’s athletic director. “When it became clear to us that we had a legitimate chance to host, we began looking at different venues. We looked at multiple sites in Muncie, in the greater Indianapolis area. The Arena here was gracious enough to let us explore it. We worked with leadership here and it turned out to be a fantastic experience, not only for Ball State, but for Fort Valley State and for Pepperdine as well.”
Mitchell
Moving the matches to the Arena didn’t stop a crowd of 1,252 fans – mostly Cardinals fans, of course – from attending the championship.
Pepperdine, located in Malibu, Calif., is a true men’s volleyball powerhouse, having won five national championships and compiled six more runner-up finishes since the tournament began in 1970. The Waves swept Fort Valley State in the Friday, May 1 semifinal to reach the championship match.
As the host school, the Cardinals received a bye into the final of the three-team regional. Ball State and Pepperdine engaged in a high-quality match that was tight the entire time. The Cardinals won the first set 25-23, the Waves took the second set 25-23, then BSU won the third set 25-22.
Pepperdine seemed to gain control of the match in the fourth set. The Waves led 21-13 and eventually won the set 25-19, setting up a winner-take-all fifth set, where the first team to 15 points would get a ticket to the national semifinals.
Pepperdine jumped out to a 4-1 lead before the Cardinals surged ahead 11-7. The Waves made their own comeback and held two match points at 14-12. A service error gave Ball State the serve back, then the Cardinals made a block to tie the score at 14-14.
Patrick Rogers did the rest. He served two consecutive aces to give Ball State the set 16-14 and set off a wild celebration.
“It came down to serve and pass at the beginning of the game,” said Rogers. “One of the keys was serve and pass. It was just so much fun.”
While many people made the trip from Muncie to attend the match, the Cardinals have their Hamilton County fans as well. One of them is Bob Penzes from Fishers. Penzes, a 1990 Ball State graduate, attended the Friday night Pepperdine-Fort Valley State match with the BSU team and spoke to The Reporter about following and supporting the Cardinals during the season.
“It’s been great,” said Penzes. “The team has evolved throughout the season a lot. They’re a team, they’re family. It’s been great to watch them grow throughout the year. I’ve traveled to Phoenix to watch them, Milwaukee, St. Louis. It’s been a pleasure to know the guys personally as far as a Ball State player.”
Ball State will play the first national semifinal against University of California-Irvine at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. UC Irvine upset top seed UCLA in the regional final. The other semifinal will be contested between Hawaii and Long Beach at 9:30 p.m. The semifinal winners advance to the national championship, which is set for Monday, May 11.
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