Ball State University
Central Michigan
Chippewas Top Volleyball In Three
October 27, 2007 | Women's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State women's volleyball team suffered a 3-0 (30-27, 30-19, 30-26) setback to Central Michigan Friday night at Worthen Arena.
With the loss, the Cardinals fall to 2-9 in Mid-American Conference action and 3-20 overall. The Chippewas improve to 17-8 (6-5 MAC) with the victory.
Brittany May (Gaston, Ind./Wes-Del H.S.) paced the Ball State offense with seven kills, while Angie Parrell (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights H.S.) scored a double-double with team-highs of 14 digs and 23 assists.
Defensively, the Cardinals were able to limit one of the nation's top serving teams to three aces, while scoring eight of their own. CMU also committed 13 service errors in the contest.
In the opening game, the teams battled to a 10-10 tie before a BSU attack error and back-to-back kills from CMU's Kate Fissel helped the Chippewas build a 14-10 advantage. CMU played to a 27-21 lead in the game before a service error and a kill from Parrell, one of her four in the match, sparked a 5-1 BSU run to get the Cardinals within two points at 28-26.
After service errors from both squads pushed the score to 29-27, CMU's Lauren Krupsky posted the game-one winning kill.
CMU scored the first three points in the second stanza, while playing to a 21-6 lead. May would break a seven-point CMU scoring run with a kill, while Alyssa Rio (Wayne, Ill./St. Francis H.S.) added back-to-back service aces to get the Cardinals within 12 points at the 21-9 mark.
BSU continued to play hard, drawing within eight points at 27-19 on a Parrell kill. Unfortunately, the rally stopped short, as after a Chippewa timeout, the guests rallied off the final three points to win the game 30-19.
The third and final game was the closest of the match, with nine ties and four lead changes. After the teams battled to a 22-22 deadlock, a service ace from Abby LaVigne (Swanton, Ohio/Swanton H.S.) gave the Cardinals a brief 23-22 edge.
LaVigne followed the ace with a service error, before back-to-back kills from CMU's Whitney Evers pushed the score to 25-23 and forced the Cardinals to call their first timeout.
CMU scored the first two points after the break, forcing BSU to respond with its second timeout, to pull ahead 27-23. Central Michigan went on to win the game 30-26 on another Evers marker.
Ball State's Rio was limited to nine digs, marking just the second time this season the MAC's top defender failed to post double-figure digs.
Offensively, Ball State was limited to 31 kills and a .098 (31-21-102) attack percentage, while racking up 46 digs, eight aces and six total blocks.
Central Michigan finished the match with 50 kills and a .281 (50-16-121) attack percentage, as well as 46 digs, three aces and three team blocks.
The Chippewas' Fissel and Sarah Warner each collected a match-best 11 kills, while Courtney Kersten added a team-high 11 digs.
The Ball State women's volleyball returns to action Saturday night with a 7 p.m. match-up versus Eastern Michigan.
