Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Tops Alabama to End Season
November 23, 2005 | Women's Volleyball
Muncie, Ind. - - The Ball State women's volleyball team recorded its 21st win of the season and their 11th victory in 13 matches, with a thrilling 3-2 (30-19, 21-30, 30-24, 22-30, 15-5) victory over Alabama (23-10) Wednesday night at John E. Worthen Arena. With the win, the Cardinals finish the regular season with a 21-10 overall record, including an 11-1 mark at home.
"Tonight's match proves what type of team we are and how far we have come over the year," said Ball State head coach Randy Litchfield. "It also proves that we deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament."
Alabama was ranked as high as 26th in the nation and received votes in the latest CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Crimson Tide were also ranked 39th in the latest RichKern.com/AVCA Division I Regional Rankings.
In the match, the Cardinals were paced by the play of their four seniors.
"It was amazing the level our four seniors played at tonight coming off as grueling of a weekend you can have in sports," Litchfield added. "They played their hearts out tonight and they deserved to walk away with the win."
The Cardinals opened the match strong, jumping out to an early 12-2 advantage in the first game and never looked back. After BSU was ahead 4-2, redshirt sophomore setter Angie Parrell (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Height H.S.) served the next eight points for the Cardinals. Alabama would get as close as seven points, at 14-7, only to have junior Kirby Gibson (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson H.S.) give BSU a 10-point edge at 23-13. Ball State would win the game at 30-19 in a service ace from junior Kelly Cochran (La Porte, Ind./Michigan City Marquette H.S.).
In the second stanza, the teams played to a 7-7 tie before a 9-3 Crimson Tide run gave Alabama a 16-10 lead it would not give up. Alabama went on to win the frame 30-21.
The Cardinals answered back in the third frame, drawing a 16-10 lead of their own. BSU would push the advantage to 10 points at 23-13 on a block assists from Gibson and sophomore
The fourth marker saw the teams play to a 4-4 tie before an 11-6 Alabama run put the Tide up 15-10. After Alabama gained a 10-point edge at 26-16, Ball State would battle within five at the 27-22 mark before giving up the final three points, dropping the set 30-22.
In the fifth and final frame, the Cardinals jumped ahead 5-0 thanks to the serving of junior libero
Ball State's Parrell would pace all players with 45 assists in the match, while recording eight digs, five kills, a pair of blocks and a .500 (
Defensively, McCormick would pace all players with 33 digs in the contest, moving her MAC-leading digs-per-game average to 6.32 - - which currently ranks fourth in the nation.
Gibson would add eight kills and four blocks for the Cardinals, while Cochran added 17 digs, two aces and a pair of kills. May would score five digs, two blocks and one kill.
Heather Burleson (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian H.S.) also saw action in the contest, tallying two kills and a dig.
As a team, the Cardinals out-hit Alabama .204 (63-26-181) to .142 (59-32-190), while holding a 12-to-8.5 advantage in blocks and a 93-to-80 edge in digs. Both teams finished the match with seven service aces.
Crystal Hudson paced the Crimson Tide attack with 15 kills on the night, while Jessica Yearout tallied a team-best 23 digs.
