Ball State University Athletics
No. 21 Ohio Ends Women's Volleyball Three-Match Winning Streak
October 06, 2006 | Women's Volleyball
Muncie, Ind. - - The Ball State (6-11, 3-2 Mid-American Conference) women's volleyball team saw its three-match winning streak come to an end Friday night, as No. 21-ranked Ohio (13-3, 5-0 MAC) posted a 3-0 (30-23, 30-16, 30-12) victory over the Cardinals at Worthen Arena.
In the loss, the Cardinals allowed the Bobcats to post a .423 (58-11-111) attack percentage - - a season-high for a BSU opponent - - while earning a .092 (32-21-119) mark of its own.
Senior Kirby Gibson (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson H.S.) was the lone BSU player to hit above .150, smashing seven kills to just one error on 13 swings for a .462 rate of success. She also added a solo block in the loss.
Also collecting seven kills for Ball State were senior
Cochran would reach another career milestone in the match, playing in her 400th career game for the Cardinals in the final stanza. Cochran is only the 17th player in program history to play in 400 career games, with Tiffany Stevens (1992-95) ranking first all-time at 473.
Ohio would dominate the opening portion of the first game, climbing ahead 5-1 and building a nine-point advantage at the 15-6 mark. However, the Cardinals would show some fight over the next several points, climbing within four at 18-14, before Breivogel scored back-to-back kills and a solo stuff to get BSU within one point at 18-17.
Ball State keep the game close to the 24-22 mark, only to see a 6-1 Bobcat run end the stanza at 30-23.
Ball State would score two of the first three points in the second game, only to have Ohio rally off four-straight to climb ahead 5-2. BSU would manage to tie the game at 6-6 on a kill from Gibson, before falling behind by one at 10-9. BSU would get no closer the rest of the game, as an 11-1 Bobcats run helped the visitors secure a 30-16 game two victory.
The final game was no easier for BSU, as Ohio jumped out to a commanding 5-1 advantage and never looked back. The Cardinals could only get as close as three points - - at 5-2 and 6-3 - - before losing the set 30-12.
Reigning CVU.com National Player of the Week, senior Amanda McCormick (Muncie, Ind./Burris H.S.) was limited to 13 digs in the match, moving her career total to 1,882 and leaving her eight digs shy of breaking into the top 25 in NCAA Division I history at 1,890. In addition, she only needs 118 more digs to become just the 17th player in NCAA Division I annals to reach 2,000 career digs.
McCormick would also log six assists in the match, while junior setter Angie Parrell (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights H.S.) tallied a team-high 18 helpers to go along with five digs, a kill and a block assist. Freshman setter Cassie Conner (Willow Springs, Ill./Lyons Township H.S.) also saw action in the match, collecting one kill and one assists.
Junior
Also factoring in the match for Ball State were: freshman Ana Gabriela Pedrosa (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Colegio Arnaldo) with two digs and BSU's lone service ace to start the match and senior Stephanie Bacan (Remsen, Iowa/St. Mary's H.S.) with three digs, as well as freshmen Madison Monk (Granger, Ind./Penn H.S.) and
In addition to holding a .423 to .092 hitting advantage, Ohio out-dug BSU 52-32, while holding a 7-1 edge in aces.
Ohio's Melissa Griffin paced all players with 16 kills, while Stephanie Blackburn added 14 and Ellen Herman tallied 11. Blackburn would also pace the Bobcats in digs with 18, while her older sister Michaele Blackburn added 13. With the win, Ohio extended its MAC regular-season winning streak to 37 matches.
Ball State returns to action Saturday, when it hosts Kent State at
