MUNCIE, Ind. — The Tusculum men’s volleyball team dropped its first of a two-match series at No. 8 Ball State on Thursday (Jan. 30) night.
The Pioneers (3-6) fell to the Cardinals (6-3) by scores of 25-12, 25-19, 25-22.
Patrick Rodgers led Ball State with 10 kills on a .600 hitting percentage. Lucas Machado dished out 30 assists, while Rodgers landed five service aces. Defensively, Raje Alleyne finished with a match-high eight digs as Bray Savitski-Lynde was credited with four block assists.
Deklan Wingo headed up the Tusculum attack with 10 kills, followed by Joel Dubinsky (7), Morgan Makovec (5), Aiden Roper (3), Riley Wisniakowski (2), and Reef Mathis (1). Makovec fired on an errorless .556 clip. Wisniakowski distributed 22 assists as Dubinsky and Kai Williams tallied the aces. Wingo led the Pioneers with six digs, while both Caleb Hammann and Mathis recorded two rejections.
Ball State hit .351 as a team with 39 kills and 12 errors on 77 total attempts. Tusculum hit .141 with 28 kills, 17 errors, and 78 total attacks. The Cardinals led the Pioneers in assists (34-25), service aces (7-2), digs (26-21), and total blocks (8-5).
Tusculum have a rematch against the eighth-ranked Cardinals on Friday (Jan. 31) night at 7 p.m.
