Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Loses to Mercer Despite Late Rally
September 02, 2006 | Women's Volleyball
There BSU players managed to collect double-figure kills in the contest, paced by freshman Julie Breivogel's (Boonville, Ind./Boonville H.S.) career and match-high 19. Breivogel also finished the contest with 12 digs, two aces and a pair of blocks.
Christine Kennedy (San Marcos, Calif./University of San Diego H.S.) and Brittany May (Gaston, Ind./Wes-Del H.S.) each tallied 13 kills and three digs for BSU, with Kennedy scoring a team-best four blocks and May adding two.
Senior Amanda McCormick (Muncie, Ind./Burris H.S.) continued her solid play in the backcourt, recording a match-best 37 digs. She also finished the match with eight assists and a pair of aces.
The first set was a back-and-forth battle throughout, with neither team building more than a three-point advantage. With BSU trailing 19-16 late in the set, freshman Caitlin Morency (New Albany, Ind./Floyd Central H.S.) went on a five-point serving run to give the Cardinals a 21-19 edge.
The Bears would regain its three-point advantage moments later, pushing the score to 28-25. However, a four-point service run by BSU's McCormick, capped by an ace, gave the Cardinals game point at 29-28. After the Bears tied the score, the teams battled to a 32-32 tie before a kill from Kennedy a block assist from Kirby Gibson (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson H.S.) and Angie Parrell (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights H.S.) gave the Cardinals the 34-32 game-one victory.
After playing to an 11-10 lead in the second stanza, another strong service run by Morency - - including her first career service ace - - gave the Cardinals an 18-11 advantage. However, the Bears would manage to draw within one point at 23-22 before going on to win the set 30-28.
In the third game, the teams would play to a 4-4 tie before a 5-1 Mercer run gave the Bears a 10-5 advantage it would not relinquish the rest of the frame. Mercer would go on to win the game 30-19.
Ball State jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the fourth set off the serving efforts of Breivogel, who recorded an ace and forced three Mercer errors in the run. BSU's edge would be cut to two points at the 10-8 mark, before a 7-1 Cardinals' run put BSU up 17-9.
Mercer would get as close as three points at 17-14 and again at 19-16, but strong play from senior Kelly Cochran (LaPorte, Ind./Michigan City Marquette H.S.) and Breivogel and Kennedy helped the Cardinals pull away and win the game by a score of 30-21.
After taking a 2-1 lead in the fifth set off a pair of Breivogel kills, the Cardinals would fall behind by as many as five points at 13-8. Two Bears attack errors and a Breivogel kill would get BSU within two at 13-11 and kills from May and Cochran would get BSU within one at 14-13. Unfortunately, a BSU service error would end the game at 15-13 and the match.
Cochran would finish the match with nine kills despite playing in just the final two games. She also tallied four digs and a service ace.
Gibson added eight kills and two blocks in the match, while Morency added a career-high five digs to go along with her service ace.
Parrell finished the contest with 47 assists, nine digs, six kills and a pair of blocks.
Also factoring in the loss for BSU were Elaina Kakatolis (Arcanum, Ohio/Franklin Monroe H.S) with six kills; Madison Monk (Granger, Ind./Penn H.S.) with five digs and Cassie Conner (Willow Springs, Ind./Lyons Township H.S.) with nine assists, one kill, one dig and one block.
As a team, the Cardinals hit .212 (75-34-193) in the match, while limiting Mercer to a .234 (65-22-184) mark. The Bears dominated play at the net, recording 18 total blocks to BSU's seven. Ball State held a slim 81 to 76 edge in digs.
Kellie Violette paced four Mercer players with double-figure kills at 16, while Karen Dorris added 15 and Julie Darty and Jen Darty each added 13. Liz Kane paced the Bears with 34 digs.
Ball State returns to Worthen Arena Wednesday evening with a 7 p.m. match up versus the IUPUI Jaguars. The match will be televised live on the Ball State Sports Network (Muncie Cable Channel 2).
