Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Swept by Kent State
October 07, 2006 | Women's Volleyball
Muncie, Ind. - - The Ball State (6-12, 3-3 Mid-American Conference) women's volleyball team came up short Saturday evening at Worthen Arena, suffering a 3-0 (30-24, 40-22, 30-25) loss to Kent State (11-7, 4-2 MAC) in league play.
In the loss, senior Amanda McCormick (Muncie, Ind./Burris H.S.) moved into 22nd on the NCAA Division I all-time career digs lists, notching a match-best 26 to up her career total to 1,908. In addition, she only needs 92 more digs to become just the 17th player in NCAA Division I annals to reach 2,000 career digs.
Also turning in a strong performance for BSU was junior
Freshman Julie Breivogel (Boonville, Ind./Boonville H.S.) paced the Cardinals with 11 kills, while adding a pair of digs and a block assists.
In the opening set, the teams would battle to an 8-8 tie before back-to-back Ball State miscues put the visitors up for good in the frame. Kent State would climb ahead by seven points, at the 19-12 mark, before winning the game 30-24.
After a 3-1 KSU run opened the second game, BSU would charge back and take a three-point advantage of its own at the 7-4 mark. Unfortunately, a 7-1 run by the Golden Flashes would erase the BSU lead and give KSU an 11-8 lead it would not relinquish the rest of the set.
The Cardinals would manage to draw within one point on three occasions - - with the last coming at 12-11 - - only to see Kent State rally off six-straight for a 18-11 advantage. BSU would eventually lose the game 30-22.
After the 10-minute break between games, Kent State would take charge early in the third set, scoring the first six points before a Breivogel kill ended the rally. The Golden Flashes would eventually build a 10-point edge at 19-9 and maintain the lead at 25-15. The Cardinals would attempt to mount a comeback in the set, drawing within four points at 27-23 and forcing KSU to call its first time out of the match.
Kent State's Vaiva Laniauskas would score the first point out of the time out, but a KSU attack error and a kill from May brought the Cardinals within three points at 28-25. However, the Golden Flashes would not falter, posting the next two points to win the game 30-25 and the match 3-0.
BSU's
Junior Angie Parrell (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights H.S.) and freshman Cassie Conner (Willow Springs, Ill./Lyon's Township H.S.) once again split time at setter, scoring 16 and 11 assists, respectively. Parrell also collected three digs, a pair of service aces, two kills and a block assists, while Conner turned in two digs.
Also factoring in the match for Ball State were: Kirby Gibson (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson H.S.) with six kills and two blocks;
As a team, the Cardinals were out-hit .089 (39-26-146) to .197 (45-19-132) in the loss, while Kent State held a 71-59 advantage in digs. Ball State won the battle at the net, scoring 9.5 blocks to Kent State's 8. BSU also held a 5-4 lead in service aces.
The Golden Flashes' Ashley Feutz paced all players with 14 kills in the match, while Sarah Wilber added 10. Four KSU players recorded double-figure digs, led by Laura Jensen's 22.
The Ball State women's volleyball team will have until Friday to regroup, when it hosts Western Michigan in a pivotal MAC West Division showdown at
