Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
11-20 (6-10MAC)
Northern Illinois
17-13 (9-7MAC)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Illinois | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| Ball State | 22 | 27 | 20 | 18 | 1 |
NIU Tops Volleyball In Regular Season Finale
November 15, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State women's volleyball team completed the 2008 regular season with a 3-1 (25-22, 27-25, 25-20, 25-18) setback to Northern Illinois Saturday evening at Worthen Arena.
The Cardinals, who end the regular season with an 11-20 (6-10 Mid-American Conference) record, earned the No. 7 seed in the upcoming 2008 MAC Tournament and will host No. 10 Eastern Michigan in a first-round showdown Tuesday evening at 7 p.m.
The Huskies, who improved to 17-13 (9-7 MAC) with the win, enter the MAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed and will host No. 11 Kent State Tuesday in their first-round match.
In Saturday's showdown with the Huskies, four different Cardinals collected double-digit kills, compared to three for NIU, but it was not enough to carry BSU to victory as they committed 12 more errors than the guest from DeKalb.
Alisha Green (Country Club Hills, Ill./Hillcrest H.S.) and Julie Breivogel (Boonville, Ind./Boonville H.S.) tied for match-high honors with 15 kills apiece, while Jennifer Boyd (Evans City, Pa./Seneca Valley H.S.) and Elaina Kakatolis (Arcanum, Ohio/Franklin Monroe H.S.) added 11 kills each.
Defensively, Alyssa Rio (Wayne, Ill./St. Francis H.S.) paced all players with a season-high tying 29 digs to raise her career total to 1,149 which ranks her seventh in school history. Breivogel, who ranks 10th in program annals with 980 career kills, also tallied a season-high 18 digs in the loss for her ninth double-double of the season.
In addition to out-hitting the Huskies, the Cardinals limited the MAC's top attacker Megan Schoenrock to just 10 kills and a .000 (10-10-47) attack percentage, while Irene Johnson and Allison McGlaughlin tied for team-high honors with 13 kills each. Maddie Hughes was NIU's top defender with 19 digs.
With Ball State holding a 20-17 lead in the third set, the Huskies capitalized on back-to-back kills from Johnson and a service ace from McGlaughlin to tie the set at 21. A Green kill on the following play stopped NIU's momentum for a moment, giving BSU a 21-20 edge. After playing to a 22-22 tie, a pair of BSU attack errors followed by a Schoenrock kills, gave NIU a 25-22 set win.
Northern Illinois looked poised to pull away with the second stanza early, building a 17-10 advantage, only to see the Cardinals battle back and tie the set at 21. With NIU holding a 23-22 lead, a block assists from Kakatolis and Ashley Heyman (Toledo, Ohio/St. Ursula Acadamy) followed by a Breivogel kill gave BSU its first set point at 24-23. After the teams traded the next four points, Breivogel added another kill to give the Cardinals a 27-25 set victory.
A kill from Green and a NIU service error gave the Cardinals an early 2-1 advantage in the second game, but an 8-1 Huskies run gave the guest a 9-3 lead. Ball State was able to battle back within one point on two occasions, including the 17-16 mark, before Northern Illinois went on to capture the frame 25-20.
The teams battled to a 10-10 tie in the fourth game, before a three-point run gave Northern Illinois a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the frame. NIU went on to win the set 25-18 and the match 3-1 on a BSU service error.
