To wrap up the Cardinals first home stand of the season, Ball State took on the Trine Thunder in an early season non-conference matchup. This was the Cardinal’s second non-conference home game of the season, coming off of a win Friday against Wabash.

With the season just kicking off, these two home games were important to coach Donan Cruz in order to build confidence.

“It was nice to get a couple of matches under our belt”, Cruz said. “We were able to get the game-day nerves out of the way as well.”

Today, a mix of veteran leadership and production from underclassmen was the key to Ball State’s 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-13) victory over the Thunder. Graduate student Rodney Wallace likes the mix of leadership that the team has, and thinks it benefits the team in many ways.

“It is something we talked about earlier in the season,” he said. “When you have a team with just freshmen there’s not anyone you can really look to, but with us we understand what it takes to be successful early in the season and late.”

The Cardinals came out firing in the first set, keeping at least a three point cushion the entire set. Every time the Thunder fought back, Ball State had an even bigger response and moved through the first set with no trouble. The Cardinals took a 13-7 lead early, and did not lose a step, going on to win the set.

The red and white did not take their foot off the gas going into the last two sets, holding a commanding lead in both sets, and were able to close out the match 3-0. Sophomore setter Lucas Machado – who led the team in assists once again with 16 – has been a big key to the Cardinals success so far this season.

“I would say it’s pretty hard [being the main setter],” he said. “I have to always do the right work setting. Griffin [Satterfield- and Peter [Zurawski] help me a lot, so it’s not only me,”

During the end of the second set, junior middle blocker Eyal Rawitz went down with a serious injury and was taken off the court in a stretcher. Cruz noted that Rawitz has been having the best season of his career thus far and he also spoke about the emotions of the injury, and how that affects the team.

“We have a pretty supportive group so I think they will respond well to it”, Cruz said. “It is just the nature of athletics, sometimes you have to go out there and be willing to take a risk. But the team will rally around him well.”

After the first two matches of the season. Cruz loves what he is seeing from the team.

“We are a lot more consistent on the service line,”he said. “I think we are a bit more poised on how we carry ourselves on the court too.”

Ball State – who is ranked as No. 5in the country – has its first test next weekend, when they travel to the West Coast to take on Stanford in a pair of matches. This will be the team’s first away game of the season.

“It’s always fun to get in a new environment with the team and challenge ourselves”, Wallace said. “But nothing beats playing here at home.”

Contact Kyle Stout via email at kyle.stout@bsu.edu or via X @kylestoutdailyn. 

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