April 5, 2007

Box Score

CHICAGO - The No. 12 Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball team gained a .258 to .157 advantage on the attack and three Ramblers hit for double-figures in a 3-1 (28-30, 31-29, 30-23, 30-19) win over No. 15 Ball State on Thursday night in Alumni Gym.

Loyola (21-6, 8-4 MIVA Shondell/Dunlap) evened the all-time series with Ball State at 15 wins apiece. This was LU's 10th consecutive home win against Ball State with its only loss coming in the first meeting of the series on Jan. 18, 1997. The Ramblers are 4-5 against nationally ranked opponents this season and improved to 7-4 this season when losing the first game.

Junior opposite hitter Ian Anderson totaled 18 kills for a .316 hitting percentage (18-6-38) to lead the Ramblers on the attack. Anderson also tied for the team-high mark with five blocks and added four digs.

Reigning AVCA and MIVA Player of the Week James Grunst registered 11 kills on 20 attempts with only one error on the attack (11-1-20) for a match-high .500 hitting percentage. The Milwaukee, Wis. native also tied his season high with a pair of assists along with three digs, two blocks and one dig.

Krisjanis Berzins registered his 12th double-figure kill performance of the season with 10 kills and a .316 hitting percentage on the attack (10-4-19). Setter Brian Guntli collected his sixth double-double effort of the season, coordinating the Rambler attack with 46 assists and collecting a team-high 13 digs in the back row. LU has had 11 double-double performances this season.

The Ramblers out-blocked the Cardinals 9-8 and were led by five blocks apiece by Anderson and Nick Lamoureux. In the back row, libero Zach Bailey turned in his 10th double-figure dig match of the season with 12.

Ball State (14-10, 6-3 MIVA Shondell/Dunlap) was led by 16 kills by Nick Meyer and 12 from Matt McCarthy. Jeff Schmitz set up the Rambler attack with 39 assists while libero Ian Peckler registered a match-high 14 digs.

Loyola concludes its regular-season schedule with a non-conference match at 7 p.m. against No. 6 Penn State in Alumni Gym.