MUNCIE, Ind. — More than a year of good fortune when it came to injuries and illnesses came to a screeching halt for the top-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team on Saturday.

The Rainbow Warriors, in their first road game and first defeat of the season at No. 15 Ball State, were hamstrung without three of their best players and fell in straight sets, 25-20, 25-18, 25-19.

Setter Jakob Thelle, middle Guilherme Voss and reserve hitter Filip Humler were not at Worthen Arena because of pandemic health protocols. Starting hitter Chaz Galloway watched from the sideline, his left foot in a boot.

Without them, coach Charlie Wade’s team dropped the first four points of the match, then the match itself in front of an energetic Cardinals crowd. UH (4-1) hit just .159 to Ball State’s .410.

Wade, in a post-match media call, chuckled about his team finally experiencing some of the COVID protocol absences that many other sports teams have gone through. UH avoided it during its run to the 2021 national title.

“Other programs, and everybody on the planet,” Wade said of luck running out. “Our guys are pretty responsible and pretty vigilant. It doesn’t seem to escape anyone at this point. It’s stuff that’s out of our control and we just stay focused on who is available and do the best we can. We played a very good team tonight, on the road, with a lot of veteran guys. We’ve gotta play better to win.”

Kana‘i Akana, Spyros Chakas and Dimitrios Mouchlias led UH with six kills apiece. Meanwhile, UH could not stop Ball State hitter Kaleb Jenness, who had 19 kills on 30 swings.

Freshman setter Jack Walmer got the start in the place of Thelle, an AVCA honorable mention All-American who helped lead the Warriors to the 2021 national championship.

“Certainly he doesn’t have the reps with that group that Jake does, but he’s at practice every day and I thought he did a nice job,” Wade said. “It’s kind of a tough situation for him, but I’m sure he enjoyed and embraced the opportunity.”

Wade hopes to have Galloway and Humler back for Monday’s rematch with Ball State (4-0), and all of the four absent players back for the next leg of the road trip, next week’s First Point Collegiate Challenge in Austin, Texas.