Volleyball Ends Regular Season With Loss At WMU

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - - The Ball State women's volleyball team ended the regular season with a 3-0 (30-16, 30-16, 30-18) loss at Western Michigan's University Arena Saturday night.

With the win, the Broncos capture the Mid-American Conference West Division title outright, earn the No. 2 seed in next week's league tournament and improve to 21-9 (12-4 MAC). BSU falls to 5-24 (4-12 MAC) with the loss.

Sophomore Julie Breivogel (Boonville, Ind./Boonville H.S.) paced the Ball State offense with eight kills, while adding a pair of digs. Senior Brittany May (Gaston, Ind./Wes-Del H.S.) added seven kills and three total blocks in her final regular season match.

BSU freshman libero Alyssa Rio (Wayne, Ill./St. Francis H.S.) ended the contest with a team-high 10 digs, while a pair of Cardinals collected seven.

Defensively, the Broncos limited the Cardinals to a .009 (21-20-112) attack percentage, while hitting for a .273 (48-18-110) rate of success on offense.

WMU also held a 61 to 38 advantage in digs and scored eight service aces to BSU's one. The Cardinals held a six to four edge in team blocks.

After scoring the first two points of the match on a WMU attack error and a kill from freshman Abby LaVigne (Swanton, Ohio/Swanton H.S.), the Cardinals held an early 2-0 advantage in the opening set. Unfortunately, the Broncos responded with the next five points and never trailed again, winning the set 30-16.

Western Michigan opened the second game with a 4-1 run and pulled ahead by five at the 7-2 mark. Another LaVigne kill and a WMU attack error brought the Cardinals within three points, at 7-4. However, Ball State could not get any closer, trailing by three at 12-9 before dropping the frame 30-16.

The Cardinals held a 2-1 edge early in the third game, only to see the Broncos take another 7-2 advantage. BSU battled back within three points at the 10-7 mark on a kill from May, only to see a 12-5 WMU run put the hosts ahead by 10 points at 22-12.

The Broncos went on to win the game 30-18 and the MAC West Division Championship on a kill from Leah Vaneeuwen, her only marker of the match.

WMU's Michelle Moore paced all players with 19 kills in the contest, while Allyson Doyle added 11. Doyle tied teammate Caitlin Strimel for match-high honors with 14 digs, while Katie Eberling added 13.

The Ball State women's volleyball team will look to put the regular season behind it next Tuesday, when it travels to Northern Illinois to open play in the 2007 Mid-American Conference Tournament. BSU enters the league tournament as the No. 9 seed, while NIU earns the No. 8 slot.

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Players Mentioned

Julie Breivogel

Abby LaVigne

Brittany May

Alyssa Rio

Players Mentioned

Julie Breivogel

Abby LaVigne

Brittany May

Alyssa Rio