(LEBANON, Ill., April 16)—The McKendree University men's volleyball team recorded its first post-season win in program history Saturday night after sweeping No. 11 ranked Ball State University in the first round of the Midwestern Intercolligate Volleyball Association tournament. The Bearcats won by scores of 25-18, 25-23, and 25-23.

McKendree entered the contest as the No. 6 seed in the MIVA tournament, while the Cardinals played host to the Bearcats in Muncie, IN as the No. 3 seed. McKendree will advance to the semi-final round Wednesday evening against an opponent yet to be determined.

Junior opposite Maalik Walker (Shorewood, IL/Minooka) connected on a match high 13 kills to go with six digs and five blocks. Sophomore outside hitters Nolan Rueter (Burlington, WI/Burlington) and Jared Wilcox (Warrenville, IL/Wheaton-Warrenville South) each tallied nine kills with Rueter adding four digs and two blocks, while Wilcox posted three digs and one block. Junior middle blocker Wyatt Patterson (Flossmoor, IL/Homewood-Flossmoor) went 6-9 from the field for a team high .667 attack percentage to pair with a match high six blocks.

Sophomore setter Pasquale Fiduccia (Hanover Park, IL/Glenbard North) handed out a match high 37 assists adding four digs. Sophomore middle blocker Brendan Schmidt (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West) added five kills and freshman libero Zach Thompson (Defiance, MO/Francis Howell) reached double digits in digs with 10 to go with three assists from the back row.

The Bearcats opened the match with a 5-3 lead after a pair of kills from Rueter. Ball State cut the advantage to 8-7, but two aces from Wilcox sparked a three point run from McKendree to push the lead to three. The Bearcats continued to roll extending the lead to 16-11 with kills from Walker and Fiduccia. Ball State would not go away quietly as the Cardinals responded with a four point run to pull within one. McKendree would rally back using three straight blocks to open a five point run and closed the set by taking six of the final seven points.   

Ball State used a trio of kills to take a 6-5 lead early in the second set. The Bearcats roared back with four straight kills including two from Walker to flip the script at 9-6 to force a timeout from the Cardinals. Ball State began to chip away at the deficit cutting the lead to just one point at 16-15. McKendree countered with a four point run with kills from Wilcox and Rueter. After a kill from Patterson put the Bearcats up by a score of 22-16 the Cardinals rattled off a pair of three point runs and went on to take eight of the next ten points to give Ball State a glimmer of hope at 24-23. A timeout from McKendree halted the Cardinals momentum as the Bearcats were able to score the final point and escape the second set with a 2-0 lead.

The teams were even after eight points in the third set before back to back kills from Walker gave McKendree a 6-4 advantage. The Bearcats held steady at 11-9 before three straight kills from the Cardinals gave Ball State its first lead of the set at 12-11. McKendree would not be outdone taking six of seven points with kills from four different Bearcats to go up 18-14 as Ball State attempted to regroup with a timeout. The Cardinals worked themselves back into the set as they rallied to tie things at 20. Schmidt and Wilcox each connected on kills to put McKendree up 23-21 before the teams exchanged service errors to force set point for the Bearcats. Ball State hung tough landing a kill to close the gap at 24-23, but a kill from Wilcox sealed the fate of the Cardinals as McKendree completed the 3-0 sweep.