Men’s Volleyball Dominates No. 13 Stanford with Convincing 3-0 Victory!

STANFORD, Calif. — No. 5 Ball State (3-0) achieved an impressive away victory after dominating No. 13 Stanford (0-1) Friday evening in the initial match of the weekend between the two squads.  

The Cardinals displayed a cohesive team performance, with three players surpassing ten kills. Rajé Alleyne was the standout, achieving a .483 hitting percentage with a total of 15 kills, alongside two blocks and one ace for the night. Patrick Rogers and Tinaishe Ndavazocheva also contributed significantly with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Lucas Machado proved to be a valuable contributor as well, delivering 35 assists, two aces, and two block assists.

Defensively, Vanis Buckholz reinforced the net with five block assists and one solo block. 

The Cardinals had a sluggish beginning as they found themselves trailing 1-5 early in the first set. The match saw numerous exchanges between the teams, with Ball State battling to build momentum, but a series of Stanford faults and an ace from Machado helped the Cardinals regain their footing. They eventually tied the score at 20-20 following a significant kill by Ndavazocheva. Alleyne’s kill secured the set for Ball State, concluding the initial frame 25-22. 

Ball State maintained the lead against Stanford for the majority of the second set, yet the Cardinal persisted fiercely. In a tightly contested set, the Cardinals clinched a 26-24 triumph following an ace from Ndavazocheva.

With the Cardinals up 2-0, they carried all the energy into the concluding set. While leading 19-16, they finished off with a six-point scoring streak, sealing the match with consecutive blocks from Alleyne, Buckholz, and Rogers.

Collectively, Ball State restricted Stanford to a .258 hitting percentage compared to their own .411.

The men’s volleyball team of Ball State aims to continue their success against Stanford in another match on Saturday (Jan. 11) evening at 9 p.m. ET.