Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
14-15, 7-9MAC
Akron
14-17, 5-11MAC
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ball State | 25 | 20 | 25 | 23 | 15 | 3 |
| Akron | 21 | 25 | 14 | 25 | 9 | 2 |
Women?s Volleyball Battles Past Akron, 3-2
November 15, 2009 | Women's Volleyball
AKRON, Ohio - - In a hard-fought match on both sides, the Ball State women's volleyball team secured the No. 8 seed and a first round home match in the 2009 Mid-American Conference Tournament with a 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 25-14, 23-25, 15-9) victory over Akron Saturday night at James A. Rhodes Arena.
With the victory, the Cardinals finish the regular season with a 14-15 overall record, including a 7-9 mark in league play. Akron ends the regular season with 14-17 (5-11 MAC) record.
The Cardinals will host No. 9 seed Akron in MAC Tournament first round play Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Worthen Arena.
Ball State was able to spread out its offensive attack on the night, with five players smashing double-figure kills. Kelsey Brandl (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North H.S.) paced the Cardinals with 16 markers, while hitting .536 (16-1-28) in the contest. She also added five digs and five blocks.
Hannah Sullivan (New Albany, Ind./New Albany H.S.) added 14 kills and a .265 (14-1-49) attack percentage, while Charde' Phillips (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria H.S.) and Jennifer Boyd (Evans City, Pa./Seneca Valley H.S.) scored 11 kills each. Alisha Green (Country Club Hills, Ill./Hillcrest H.S.) rounded out BSU's double-digit kill scorers with 10, including the match winner.
As a team, the Cardinals finished the night with a .262 (65-17-183) attack percentage, as setter Brittany McGinnis (Fraser, Mich./Fraser H.S.) led BSU to above .400 marks in each set they won.
On the defensive side Alyssa Rio (Wayne, Ill./St. Francis H.S.) paced the Cardinals with 26 digs, while Kaylee Schembra (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli H.S.) posted 21. Sullivan added 18 for her second double-double of the season, while McGinnis tallied 11 for her fifth double-double on the year.
Akron's Brionna Patterson paced all players with 20 kills in the contest, while Jackie Goleman added 14 and Liz Martin tallied 10. Chelsea Harvey earned a match-high 34 digs for the Zips, while both Megan Rodriguez and Courtney Jarvis added 14.
As a team, Akron finished the match with a .189 (65-28-196) attacking percentage.
The opening set saw the teams battle to an 11-11 deadlock before a BSU error and a kill from Jarvis gave the hosts a 13-11 edge. The Cardinals answered with a kill from Boyd and a Schembra service ace to tie the set once again at 13.
With the score knotted at 14, an ace from Rio sparked a 4-0 run to give the Cardinals an 18-14 advantage. Moments later a kill from Brandl gave Ball State a five-point lead at 20-15. The Cardinals would win the set 25-21 on a kill from Phillips.
Three early kills from Goleman would help the Zips pound out the first five points in the second frame and force an early Ball State timeout. BSU cut the gap to three at 6-3 on a block assist from Brandl and Sullivan, but Akron pushed the lead back to five at 9-4 with a block of their own.
From there, the hosts built a nine-point advantage at 16-7 off another Goleman kill. Back-to-back kill from Boyd helped the Cardinals cut the lead to six at 17-11, while a Phillips and Green block assist got the Cardinals within five at 21-16.
Akron would reach set point at 24-18 after a BSU error. Boyd kept the Cardinals alive on the next two plays, with a kill and block, but it was not enough as Akron's Goleman used the BSU block to score the frame-winning kill at 25-20.
After scoring just six kills in the entire second set, the Cardinals came out firing in the third frame, as two kills from both Phillips and Boyd plus a Sullivan marker helped BSU establish a 5-1 edge. With the lead still at four, kills from Rio and Brandl led to a Zips timeout at 11-5.
The Cardinals added the first three points after the break to extend their lead to nine at 14-5. Later, three straight markers from Green and an Akron attack error led to the hosts' second timeout at 18-6. While Akron was able to battle back within eight, at 22-14, the Cardinals scored the final three points to win the set 25-14 on a Brandl kill.
Akron came out strong once again in the fourth set, pulling ahead 4-1 early after a Patterson kill. The Zips continued to lead by four at 12-8, only to see the Cardinals rally off the next four points thanks in part to an ace from Rio and a Sullivan kill. A few plays later, an Akron attacking error gave BSU its first lead of the set at 14-13.
Following three straight Akron points, BSU called its first timeout trailing 16-14. From there, the teams battled to a 19-19 stalemate. The Zips would regain their two-point lead at 21-19 after a kill from Liz Martin and a BSU error, only to see kills from Boyd, Sullivan and Phillips push the score to 22-21 in favor of the Cardinals.
Ball State extended its lead to a pair of points following a Zips' timeout and error. However, Akron's Jarvis blasted back-to-back slams to tie the score at 23. Following a Ball State timeout, the Zips used kills from Goleman and Jarvis to win the set 25-23 and force a deciding fifth frame.
Despite a kill from Boyd giving the Cardinals the first point of the fifth set, a 4-0 run from Akron led to a Ball State minute break at 4-1. BSU responded with a 4-0 run of its own, using a pair of kills from Sullivan, a Green marker and an Akron error to force a Zips' timeout at 5-4.
After Akron tied the set on a kill from Jarvis, a McGinnis dump and back-to-back Sullivan kills lead to an 8-5 BSU lead at the side switch. Three plays later, Akron used its second timeout as a kill from Brandl and a Sullivan solo block pushed Ball State's advantage to 10-6.
The Cardinals extended their lead to six points, at 13-7, after a pair of Akron errors, while reaching match point at 14-8 after a Brandl kill. Following a block from the Zips, Ball State secured the No. 8 seed and home court advantage in the first round of the 2009 MAC Tournament as a swing from Green hit the floor.
