Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
0-1
Purdue
1-0
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ball State | 19 | 18 | 17 | 0 |
| Purdue | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Women?s Volleyball Falls At No. 19 Purdue In Season Opener
August 29, 2009 | Women's Volleyball
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - - The Ball State (0-1) women's volleyball team opened the 2009 season with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-17) setback at No. 19 Purdue (1-0) Friday evening in its first of three matches in the Mortar Board Premier Tournament hosted by the Boilermakers.
Charde' Phillips (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria H.S.) was BSU's leading attacker in the match, as she blasted eight kills and hit .357 (8-3-14). Ball State setter Brittany McGinnis (Fraser, Mich./Fraser H.S.) was a perfect 5-for-5 from the attack line, while handing out 18 assists and recording two blocks.
Purdue's Carrie Gurnell paced all players with 14 kills on the night, while posting a .417 (14-4-24) attack percentage. Kristen Arthurs also added 10 kills for the Boilermakers, who out-hit the Cardinals .360 (44-13-83) to .071 (29-23-85) in the match.
Ball State's 2009 season started with Phillips blasting an overpass for a kill, but the host Boilermakers responded with seven of the next eight points to pull ahead 7-2. BSU battled back to pull within three at 9-6, thanks in part to a quick attack from McGinnis, only to see the hosts surge ahead by seven at 14-7.
The gap remained seven at the 16-9 mark, before a pair of overpasses from the Cardinals found the Belin Court hardwood floor and cut the edge to 16-11. BSU continued to ride the momentum, eventually forcing Purdue to call timeout with a 20-18 lead. Unfortunately, it was all Purdue after the break, as the hosts rattled off five of the final six points to win the set 25-19.
The 19th-ranked Boilermakers tallied the first two points of the second set, while a kill from BSU's Alisha Green (Country Club Hills, Ill./Hillcrest H.S.) cut the lead to 2-1. On the next play, however, the Cardinals would lose their best backcourt player as starting libero Alyssa Rio (Wayne, Ill./St. Francis H.S.) was forced to leave the match due to injury. Purdue would go on to control the next portion of the frame, pulling ahead by nine at 15-6 and forcing BSU to call both its timeouts.
The Cardinals came to life after the second minute break, as three kills from Phillips and a marker from Green cut the Purdue edge to six at 17-11. Back-to-back kills from McGinnis and Green kept Ball State within six at 20-14, but the Boilermakers rallied off four of the next five points to reach set point at 24-15. Three straight errors gave the Cardinals a little life, before Purdue's Gurnell pounded the set-winning kill.
Kaylee Schembra (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli H.S.) gave the Cardinals a 3-2 advantage early in the third frame, before the team's traded the next eight blows to move the score to 7-6 in favor of Ball State. Purdue rallied off the next four points, only to see a pair of kills from Phillips help rally the Cardinals back within two at 11-9.
On the next play, Phillips and sophomore transfer Kelsey Brandl (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North H.S.) threw up a huge block to cut the Purdue lead to one. Unfortunately, the Boilermakers posted the next four points and never looked back, winning the set 25-17 on Gurnell's match-best 14th kill of the night.
The Cardinals continue play in the 2009 Mortar Board Premier Tournament Saturday with matches versus Dayton (1-0) at noon and Coastal Carolina (0-1) at 5 p.m.
