Host Iowa Sweeps Volleyball In Morning Match

Saturday, September 15

Iowa City, Iowa

10 a.m.

Ball State University

@ Iowa

September 15, 2007 | Women's Volleyball

By: Ball State Athletics

IOWA CITY, Iowa - - The Ball State women's volleyball team continued play in the Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge Saturday morning with a 3-0 (30-23, 30-26, 30-28) loss to host Iowa.

With the loss, the Cardinals drop to 1-10 overall, while the Hawkeyes improve to 7-3 and are one victory away from claiming the tournament title.

Senior outside hitter/middle blocker Brittany May (Gaston, Ind./Wes-Del H.S.) was BSU's main offensive weapon, as she collected a match-high 17 kills. In addition, May was the only player in the match to reach double-figure kills.

Defensively, the Cardinals were once again lead by the play of freshman libero Alyssa Rio (Wayne, Ill./St. Francis H.S.) who tallied a match-best 18 digs. Rio raises her streak to 11-straight matches with double-figure digs, and continues to pace the Mid-American Conference with a 6.38 digs-per-game average.

Also posting double-figure digs for BSU was junior middle blocker Christine Kennedy (San Marcos, Calif./University of San Diego H.S.) with 13.

The opening set saw the Cardinals score two of the first three points before building a 4-2 advantage off a service ace from Rachel Alcorn (New Castle, Ind./Chrysler H.S.). Iowa responded by scoring the next four points and never trailed again, pulling ahead by as many as eight points, before winning the game 30-23.

After playing to a 12-12 tie in the second game, the Cardinals scored the next four points, thanks in part to the serving of freshman defensive specialist Karin Caudill (Selma, Ind./Burris Laboratory School), to pull ahead 16-12. Ball State extended its advantage to eight points at the 24-16 mark thanks to an Iowa attack error.

From there, however, it was all Hawkeyes, as the hosts posted a 14-2 run to win the game 30-26.

The third game was the closest of the morning, with nine ties and five lead changes. After falling behind 13-7, a kill from May followed by back-to-back service aces from Rio, sparked a 7-1 BSU run which tied the game at 14.

After the teams battled to a 26-26 tie, May provided another kill to give the Cardinals a brief 27-26 advantage. After three Ball State errors, including an Iowa block, gave the Hawkeyes match point at 29-27, May's 17th and final kill of the contest gave the Cardinals life at 29-28. However, a kill from Iowa's Becky Walters ended the game at 30-28.

Megan Eskew led the Hawkeyes with eight kills, while Kiley Fister recorded a team-best 11 digs.

Overall, Iowa finished the match with a .106 (39-25-132) attack percentage, compared to a .042 (40-34-142) rate of success for the Cardinals. BSU held a 58 to 57 edge in digs, a 12 to 7.5 advantage in blocks, while both teams recorded four aces.

Ball State concludes play in the Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge later tonight, with a 5 p.m. (CT) match versus Texas-Arlington.