Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Opens MAC Play with 3-2 Win at Miami
September 22, 2006 | Women's Volleyball
Oxford, Ohio - - The Ball State (3-9, 1-0 Mid-American Conference) women's volleyball team opened conference play with a bang Friday night, scoring a 3-2 (30-26, 17-30, 31-33, 30-17, 15-12) victory at Miami's (4-10, 0-1 MAC) Millett Hall.
While junior
May also scored six digs and three blocks in the victory, while Breivogel added two digs and two blocks.
Senior libero Amanda McCormick (Muncie, Ind./Burris H.S.) opened the match strong, collecting her 1,000th career dig at Ball State in the opening rally and finished the night with a match-high 34 to bring her BSU total to 1,033 and her career total to 1,751. McCormick, who recorded 20-plus digs in her sixth-straight MAC match, is just the 11th player in school history to record 1,000 digs at Ball State.
After trading the first six points of the match, a
The RedHawks would then go ahead 14-13 before May tallied a kill and two more aces to give Ball State a 16-14 edge. Five ties and two lead changes later, the Cardinals would push ahead for good at 25-24 on another kill from May. BSU would win the frame 30-26 on a Miami service error.
In addition to May's four service aces in the game, McCormick tallied 11 digs in the frame including her 1,000th as a member of the BSU volleyball team.
After a hard-fought opening game, the RedHawks jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the second game and never looked back. BSU would manage to claw within five points at 12-7, but get no closer, losing the game 30-17.
With the RedHawks holding a slim 5-4 advantage in the third game, a Miami attack error and a
The score would remain tight, with the teams exchanging small leads before playing to a 23-23 deadlock. The hosts from Oxford would break the tie with three-straight points and reach game-point ahead 29-27. However, kills from Kirby Gibson (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson H.S.) and May would lead to the frame's 14th ties.
A Miami attack error would give BSU game-point at 30-29, while the RedHawks' Carli Reihman and BSU's Cochran traded kills to push the score to 31-30. Unfortunately for Ball State, a pair of Emily Schroeder kills sandwiching a BSU attack error led to a 33-31 game-three victory for the RedHawks.
The RedHawks would jump out to a 3-2 advantage in the fourth set, only to see the Cardinals rally off eight-straight points an take a commanding 10-3 lead. Miami would get within five points, at 10-5, before back-to-back May kills and back-to-back Kennedy service aces gave the Cardinals a nine-point advantage at 14-5.
Miami would draw within five points again at 20-15, only to see a seven-point BSU run remove any doubt about the outcome of the stanza. The Cardinals would win the game 30-17 to force a deciding fifth game.
The fifth game saw the RedHawks tally the first three points and hold an 8-6 advantage at the switch. Miami would tally the first point out of the break, while a service error and May's sixth service ace of the night brought the Cardinals within one at 9-8.
After Schroeder and Cochran traded the next two kills, Breivogel tallied her first of five kills down the stretch to tie the game at 10-10. After Miami took an 11-10 lead, Breivogel scored three-straight markers to give BSU its first edge of the frame at 13-11.
Schroeder would cut the Ball State lead to 13-12, but Breivogel's fifth kill and a service ace from Stephanie Bacan (Remsen, Iowa/St. Mary's H.S.) sealed the 15-12 game-five victory for BSU.
Cochran finished the night with 13 kills, 13 digs, two aces and a block, while Kennedy tallied a match-best six total blocks in addition to 10 kills, two digs and a pair of aces.
Junior setter Angie Parrell (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights H.S.) paced the Cardinals with 58 assists in the contest, while scoring nine digs, two blocks and a kill.
Also factoring in the win were Gibson with seven kills and three blocks; Bacan with eight digs and a career-high tying four aces - - including the match winner; Ana Gabriela Pedrosa (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Colegio Arnaldo H.S.) with five digs; Madison Monk (Granger, Ind./Penn H.S.) with three digs and
Overall, the Cardinals won the contest despite being out-hit .224 (77-32-201) to .210 (66-28-181). Ball State held an 82 to 73 edge in digs, a
Staun paced the RedHawks with a match-best 21 kills, while Schroeder added 20. Melissa Zenz paced Miami with 22 digs.
Ball State will have a short time to recover from tonight's match, as the team travels to Bowling Green for a
