Men’s Volleyball Has a “Ball” Over Ball State

The Loyola men’s volleyball team secured a sweep against Ball State University March 5. Third-year outside hitter Daniel Fabikovic recorded 13 kills during the match, and fourth-year Cardinals outside hitter Patrick Rogers grabbed 10 kills. 

The first set opened in a back-and-forth between the teams leaving the game tied at three. The opening included a service ace by first-year middle blocker Oskar Berg Mikkelsen. There was  an attack error by Fabikovic and a service error by Cardinals third-year setter Lucas Machado. Rogers had a kill and service error, while Ball State’s second-year opposite hitter Ryan Louis contributed a kil. 

The Ramblers went on a 3-0 run with a kill by Fabikovic, a bad set by Machado and a service ace by third-year middle blocker Aidan Klein. Another exchange of points consisted of a service error by redshirt second-year opposite hitter Tyler Howard, a service error by Cardinals second-year outside hitter Wil Basilio and a kill from Ball State’s third-year middle blocker Braydon Savitski-Lynde. 

The Ramblers grabbed another two from a kill by Fabikovic and a block by Klein and fourth-year setter Ryan McElligott, extending their lead to 10-6. Both teams tallied another point each before the Cardinals went on a 2-0 run with a kill by Rogers and third-year middle blocker Jacob Surette. 

A trade off consisted of service errors by Rogers and Surette, a kill by Basilio, Louis, Mikkelsen and Basilio. The Ramblers started a 3-0 run with a kill by Schellinger, a bad set by Machado and a service ace by Schellinger, extending their lead to 17-12. 

The Cardinals took two with a kill by Rogers and a service ace by third-year outside hitter Marty Caravan. A service error by Caravan added a tally to the Ramblers’ total and left the score at 18-14. 

A kill by Machado, an attack error by Klein and a kill by Basilio gave the Cardinals a 3-0 run, closing in on the Ramblers’ lead. The score landed at 20-17 with a 2-0 run by the Ramblers on a kill from Fabikovic and an attack error by Louis. 

A kill by Basilio gave the Cardinals an extra point before a service error and a kill by Howard awarded the Ramblers with two points and a 22-18 lead. The Cardinals followed with a 2-0 run with a kill by Basilio and an attack error by Klein. 

An exchange of kills by Howard and Luis left the score at 23-21. Back-to-back kills by Fabikovic gave the Ramblers a 25-21 victory in the first set. 

A back-and-forth between teams opened the second set with a service ace and error by Machado and kills by Basilio, Howard and Surette giving the Cardinals the 3-2 lead. The Ramblers took a 2-0 run, gaining the lead back with a kill by Fabikovic and Howard. 

A service error by Klein interrupted the Ramblers’ run before they grabbed another two points with kills by Mikkelsen and Schellinger. 

The Cardinals capitalized on their own 2-0 run with a service error by Howard and an attack error by Fabikovic, leaving the game tied at six. The score remained tied at 11 after a back-and-forth filled with service errors on both sides, ending with kills from Klein, Rogers, Mikkelsen, Howard and Savitski-Lynde. . 

A service error by Howard and a block by Rogers and Savitski-Lynde gave the Cardinals another two. An exchange of kills by Mikkelsen and Rogers occurred before the Ramblers took a 2-0 run with a service error by Savitski-Lynde and a kill by McElligott.  

Louis tied the set at 15 with a kill, prompting a 2-0 Rambler run courtesy of a kill from Klein and a McElligott service ace. A service error by McElligott gave the Cardinals another tally before the Ramblers took another two with kills from Fabikovic and Schellinger. 

Louis and Howard traded kills before the Cardinals grabbed a 2-0 run with a service error and a kill by Savitski-Lynde. The Ramblers added two more to their tally, with a kill each from Mikkelsen and Schellinger. 

The Cardinals added on with a kill by Basilio before the Ramblers landed the score at 24-20 with a kill and service ace by Schellinger. An exchange of service errors gave the Ramblers the second set with a score of 25-21. 

The third set kicked off tied at six with Fabikovic, Rogers, Klein, Mikkelsen, Schellinger and Basilio all registering kills, in addition to service errors by McElligott, Machado, Howard and Klein. 

The Cardinals increased their lead with a 2-0 run with a kill from Louis and an attack error by Schellinger. Klein grabbed a kill before the Cardinals went on a 3-0 run with a service error by McElligott, a block by Cardinals’ first-year middle blocker Daniel Gunther and Rogers and a service ace by Machado. 

An attack error by Louis and a block by Gunther, Rogers and Louis set up a 2-0 run for the Ramblers to capitalize on a bad set by Machado and a kill by Fabikovic. 

Back-to-back service errors and a kill by Basilio left the score at 14-11. The Ramblers grabbed another three with a kill by Fabikovic, a block by Mikkelsen, McElligott and Fabikovic and a kill by Mikkelsen. 

A kill by Savitski-Lynde and a service error by Basilio set up a 4-0 run for the Cardinals, including a service error by Ramblers first-year outside hitter Ayden DesLauriers, back-to-back attack errors by Fabikovic and a kill by Machado. 

Two more for Loyola featured a kill by Howard and an attack error by Louis. The Cardinals extended their lead to 21-17 with back-to-back kills by Rogers. 

An exchange of points contained a kill and service error by Rogers and a block by Louis, Gunther and Basilio. A kill by Howard and a service ace by Fabikovic closed the lead to two points. 

Another kill and service error by Rogers and a block by Louis, Gunther and Basilio landed the score at 23-20. The Ramblers capitalized on a kill by Howard and a service ace by Ramblers third-year opposite hitter Lukas Anderson. 

The Cardinals scored their final point of the match with a kill by Basilio. The Ramblers went on a 4-0 run to win the match 26-24 with a service error by Louis and back-to-back-to-back kills by Fabikovic. 

This match marked head coach Shane Davis’s 300th win, who noted what the program has meant to him since joining the team in 1998. 

“My first year was fall of 1998, and the program started in ’96, so it’s really cool to be associated with every alum[nus] that has come through the program,” Davis said. “Being able to lead and coach a program that has so much success and such great people means everything, it’s my family.”

The Ramblers return to Gentile Arena to take on Queens University March 13 at 6 p.m. with streaming on the Marquee Sports Network.