TOLEDO, Ohio - - The Ball State women's volleyball team ended one streak, while extending another Thursday evening in Toledo, scoring a 3-2 (30-28, 20-30, 30-22, 27-30, 19-17) victory over the Rockets to snap its 13-match losing streak.
With the victory, the Cardinals have now posted an impressive 40-straight wins over Toledo. During the run, BSU has tallied 19 sweeps, 13 four-set victories and eight 3-2 wins.
The victory also marked the Cardinals' first Mid-American Conference win of the season, as the team improves to 2-13 (1-2 MAC). Toledo drops to 3-11 (0-3 MAC) with the loss.
In the match, Ball State turned in its best offensive performance of the season, hitting a season-high .192 (64-29-182), with four different Cardinals logging double-figure kills.
Elaina Kakatolis (Arcanum, Ohio/Franklin Monroe H.S.) was BSU's top attacker, logging a match-best 17 kills, while Julie Breivogel (Boonville, Ind./Boonville H.S.) scored 14 and Abby LaVigne (Swanton, Ohio/Swanton H.S.) and Christine Kennedy (San Marcos, Calif./University of San Diego H.S.) each posted 10.
Defensively, Alyssa Rio (Wayne, Ill./St. Francis H.S.) paced all players with 28 digs, while Rachel Alcorn (New Castle, Ind./Chrysler H.S.) added a career-high 16.
In the opening set, the teams battled back-and-forth through 13 ties and five lead changes, only to see the score deadlocked at 28-28. The Rockets had held a brief 28-27 lead, before a kill from Breivogel out of a BSU timeout forced the 13th and final tie of the set.
Cassie Conner (Willow Springs, Ill./Lyons Township H.S.) followed with her first and only kill of the contest, giving BSU game point at 29-28. Breivogel then finished the set with her third kill of the stanza.
After the close loss in the first game, the Rockets launched out to an 8-1 advantage in the second game, and never looked back, winning the game 30-20.
The third game saw the teams play to a 4-4 tie, before a 16-6 Ball State run put the Cardinals ahead 20-10. The Rockets managed to draw within five points at 20-15, only to see an attack error and a huge solo block from LaVigne put the Cardinals back ahead by seven at 23-16.
Toledo was able to get within five points again at 26-21, before another attack error and a block assist from Kakatolis and Alexis Shonkwiler (Marion, Ind./Eastbrook H.S.) put the momentum back in the Cardinals side of the floor, as they went on to win the game 30-22.
Ball State controlled the scoreboard for much of the early portion of game four, pulling ahead by as many as four points and holding a 17-15 advantage. After a BSU attack error cut the lead to one point, UT's Katie Westerfeld recorded back-to-back service aces to give the Rockets an 18-17 advantage and force a BSU timeout.
Toledo added the next three points out of the break, to pull ahead 21-17, before one of Shonkwiler's career-high nine kills stopped the run. With the Cardinals trailing 26-23, a Breivogel kill, followed by a block assist from Angie Parrell (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights H.S.) and Shonkwiler forced Toledo to call a timeout.
Breivogel smashed a kill out of the break to tie the score at 26-26, but Toledo rallied off four of the final five points to win the game 30-27 and force a deciding fifth frame.
After playing to a 2-2 tie to open the fifth frame, a pair of kills from Toledo's TaNeisha Winters helped spark a 5-1 Rockets run to give the hosts a 7-3 edge and put BSU's 39-match winning streak over the Rockets in serious jeopardy.
The Cardinals did not falter, however, posting a 6-1 run of their own to pull ahead 9-8. Kakatolis opened the run with a kill, while Parrell and Kennedy combined for back-to-back blocks to get BSU within one at 7-6. After a Toledo kill forced the court switch, kills from LaVigne and Parrell tied the score, while a Toledo attack error gave BSU a 9-8 advantage.
Ball State remained in the lead at the 13-11 mark, only to see three-straight points by the Rockets give Toledo their first match-point in the series since Nov. 21, 1986 - - Toledo's last win over Ball State.
Kakatolis responded to the challenge with her 16 and 17th kills of the match, giving BSU its first of three match points at 16-15. With the game tied at 17-17, Kennedy scored her 10th kill of the match before a Toledo over pass attempt was set into the middle of the net, giving BSU the 19-17 game victory.
In addition to logging a season-high attack percentage, BSU also posted a season-best 15 team blocks, with Kennedy, Kakatolis and Parrell each logging six total blocks, while Shonkwiler added five.
Also factoring in the victory for the Cardinals were Karin Caudill (Selma, Ind./Burris Laboratory School) with nine digs and Ashley Heyman (Toledo, Ohio/St. Ursula Academy) with a kill and three block assists.
Shannon Strachan was Toledo's top attacker, producing 13 kills, while Stephanie Kersting added 12 and Liz Sundberg scored 11. Lori Ruth paced the Rockets' defense with 20 digs.
Overall, the Cardinals held a .192 to .145 (69-39-207) advantage in hitting, while out-blocking the Rockets 15 to 9. BSU also held a slim 83 to 81 advantage in digs, while Toledo scored 11 service aces to BSU's six.
The Ball State women's volleyball team opens the home portion of its 2007 Mid-American Conference schedule Saturday, when it hosts Buffalo at 7 p.m. in Worthen Arena.
