Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Falls to Northern Illinois, 3-1
October 14, 2006 | Women's Volleyball
Muncie, Ind. - - Despite winning the first game, the Ball State (6-14, 3-5 Mid-American Conference) women's volleyball team could not tame MAC West Division leader Northern Illinois (14-6, 7-1 MAC), suffering a 3-1 (27-30, 30-16, 30-24, 30-25) setback to the Huskies Saturday night at Worthen Arena.
In the loss, freshman Julie Breivogel (Boonville, Ind./Boonville H.S.) paced the BSU attack with a match-high tying 19 kills. She also logged seven digs and a block assists in the contest.
Two other Cardinals managed double-figure kills, with senior
Cochran would also post 10 digs in the match for her team-leading 10th double-double of the season. She also tallied three service aces and four assists. May would add two digs, a service ace and a block assists to her statistical line.
Senior libero Amanda McCormick (Muncie, Ind./Burris H.S.) continued her march to 2,000 digs, pacing the Cardinals with 37 digs in the contest. The 37 digs brings her career total to 1,973, leaving her 27 shy of 2,000. McCormick would also score three aces and three assists in the loss.
The opening set of the contest was the most competitive of the night, with 10 ties and four lead changes. With the Cardinals holding a two-point advantage at 6-4, the Huskies would make the first big run of the night, rallying off seven-straight points to pull ahead 11-6.
A kill from freshman Cassie Conner (Willow Springs, Ill./Lyons Township H.S.) - - who started as BSU's setter - - would spark a five point Cardinals' run to tie the game at 11-11. In the run, McCormick would score two of her three aces. From there, the teams would play to a 22-22 tie before back-to-back kills from Cochran and May gave BSU the edge for good in the set. BSU won the game 30-27 on another Cochran kill.
In the second game, NIU would score the first five points and never trail, winning the frame 30-16.
The third game saw NIU pull ahead 10-7 before back-to-back Breivogel kills sparked a six-point BSU run which put the Cardinals ahead 13-10. NIU would manage to tie the game at 16 and the teams would play to a 20-20 deadlock. Back-to-back NIU blocks would give the Huskies a two-point lead at 22-20, and force BSU to call its first time out of the set.
Senior Kirby Gibson (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson H.S.) would score a kill out of the break, but the Huskies would end the game at 30-24 with an 8-3 run.
In the fourth and final frame, Ball State would jump ahead 4-0, before Northern Illinois tied the game at 8-8. The Cardinals would manage to score three of the next four points, only to see a five-point Huskies run push the visitors ahead 14-11. NIU would not trail the rest of the set, winning the game 30-25.
Conner, who was making just her fourth career start - - and her first in MAC play - - finished the night with a career-high 32 assists, while adding seven digs, a kill and a block assist. Junior setter Angie Parrell (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights H.S.) would also see action in the match, collecting nine assists, four kills and an ace.
Gibson would finish the night with three kills, two digs and a pair of blocks, while fellow senior Stephanie Bacan (Remsen, Iowa/St. Mary's H.S.) added 13 digs and a pair of aces.
Also factoring in the loss for the Cardinals were freshmen:
As a team, the Cardinals were out-hit .126 (54-29-198) to .226 (61-21-177) in the loss. NIU also held a 104-82 lead in digs and a 9-3 advantage in total blocks. Both teams scored 10 aces.
Despite a slow start - - six kills through the first two games - - Kate McCullagh would pace the Huskies with 19 kills in the victory, while Gina Guide would collect a match-high 39 digs.
Ball State will return to action Friday, when it starts a four-match road swing with a
