Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
11-19 (6-9MAC)
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Western Michigan
22-4 (13-2MAC)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Michigan | 25 | 26 | 25 | 3 |
| Ball State | 21 | 24 | 17 | 0 |
Volleyball Swept By Western Michigan
November 14, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - Despite one of its best hitting performances of the season in the second set, the Ball State women's volleyball team suffered a 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-17) setback to Mid-American Conference-leading Western Michigan Friday night at Worthen Arena.
In the second stanza, the Cardinals, who fell to 11-19 (6-9 MAC) with the loss, smashed 22 kills on 48 swings with just three errors for a .396 rate of success. The Broncos, however countered with 17 kills on 43 swings with just one error for a .372 hitting mark to help them improve to 22-4 (13-2 MAC).
Junior Julie Breivogel (Boonville, Ind./Boonville H.S.) moved closer to the 1,000 career kill mark, smashing a match-high tying 13 kills to raise her career total to 965. Sophomore Alyssa Rio (Wayne, Ill./St. Francis H.S.) also continued to climb the BSU dig charts, raking in a match-best 23 digs to raise her career total to 1120, which moves her from 10th to tied for eighth in program history.
Freshman Brittany McGinnis (Fraser, Mich./Fraser H.S.) also turned in solid numbers in the match, posting her 17th double-double of the year with 11 digs and 36 assists, while guiding the BSU offense to a .250 (44-13-124) hitting percentage.
On the Broncos side of the net, Michelle Moore tied Breivogel for match-high honors with 13 kills, while Katie Eberling added 11. Caitlin Strimel paced the WMU defense with 15 digs, while Jillian Mitchell set the Broncos' offense to a .278 (45-10-126) mark.
With Ball State holding a 15-12 lead in the opening set after a kill from Jennifer Boyd (Evans City, Pa./Seneca Valley H.S.), WMU drew within one before kills from BSU's Alisha Green (Country Club Hills, Ill./Hillcrest H.S.) on two of the next three plays pushed the score to 17-15. From there, however, the Broncos rallied off the next four points and went on to win the set 25-21.
While Western Michigan controlled play early in the second set, it was a Charde' Phillips (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria H.S.) kill followed by three-straight markers from Elaina Kakatolis (Arcanum, Ohio/Franklin Monroe H.S.) that turned a 16-14 WMU advantage into an 18-16 BSU lead. After a kill from WMU's Moore, two more Kakatolis kills gave BSU a 20-17 edge.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the Broncos answered with a 5-1 run to reclaim a 22-21 advantage. After playing to a 24-24 deadlock, kills from WMU's Moore and Allyson Doyle ended the set at 26-24.
After the teams traded four-point runs to open the third set, BSU quickly found itself trailing 14-8 and was forced to burn its second timeout of the frame early. Green stopped a WMU run with a kill after the minute break, but it was not enough to carry the Cardinals, as they eventually lost the set 25-17 on an Eberling kill.
The Ball State women's volleyball team concludes the regular season tomorrow night, when it hosts Northern Illinois in a 7 p.m. match with will be televised by the Ball State Sports Network.
