Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
24-5
No. 8 Toledo (MAC Quarterfinals)
13-16
No. 1 Seed WVB Stunned By No. 8 Toledo
November 20, 2010 | Women's Volleyball
TOLEDO, Ohio - - The No. 1 seed Ball State women's volleyball team saw its run at the 2010 Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship cut short Friday afternoon with a 3-0 (28-26, 25-19, 25-21) setback to the hometown and No. 8 seeded Toledo Rockets at the SeaGate Centre' in Toledo, Ohio.
In the setback, All-MAC second team selection Whitney Heeres (Flushing, Mich./Flushing Senior H.S.) paced the Ball State offense with 12 kills, while hitting for a .250 (12-6-24) rate of success.
Also chipping in double-digit kills for Ball State were fellow freshman outside hitter Kylee Baker (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North H.S.) and junior middle blocker Jennifer Boyd (Evans City, Pa./Seneca Valley H.S.) with 11 and 10, respectively.
MAC Defensive Player of the Year Alyssa Rio (Wayne, Ill./St. Francis H.S.) led all players with a match-high 16 digs, moving her NCAA-leading digs-per-set average to 5.86 on the year.
Toledo's Lauren Rafdal led all players with a match-high 17 kills, while Bethany Irwin collected eight. Three Rockets finished the night tied for team-high honors with nine digs each.
As a team, Toledo held a .297 (43-10-111) to .224 (48-20-125) hitting advantage in the contest, while out-blocking the Cardinals 7-to-4. BSU held a 48-to-42 edge in digs in the contest.
In the opening set, neither team led by more than two points, as BSU and Toledo battled to a 22-22 stalemate. The Cardinals looked to have gained the momentum, as kills from Heeres and Boyd gave BSU set-point at 24-22. However, a BSU error and a kill from Rafdal evened the score at 24. Another BSU error gave Toledo their first set-point at 25-24.
A Heeres kill and a BSU block swung the flow back to BSU's side of the court, giving the Cardinals their third set-point at 26-25. However, two more Rafdal kills, giving her 10 for the set, and a BSU attack error ended the frame at 28-26 in favor of the hometown Rockets.
Toledo scored the first three points of the second set, and never looked back, winning 25-19. Ball State was able to draw within one at the 9-8 mark, but back-to-back kills and a block from Irwin helped Toledo post a 7-1 run to regain control of the set.
The Rockets carried over the momentum in the third set, scoring the first two points and never trailing. With BSU down 5-4 after a Brandl kill, a kill and ace from Amber DeWeerdt helped UT rattle off the next three points. With Toledo holding a 17-12 edge, a kill from Baker followed by back-to-back Brandl blasts forced a UT timeout at 17-15.
The gap remained two at the 23-21 mark, before another Irwin kill gave the Rockets match-point at 24-21. Despite a strong effort from the BSU defense, Toledo's Rafdal ended the contest with her match-high 17th kill on the next play.
As the 2010 MAC Regular Season Champions, the Cardinals now await a possible at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. A total of 64 teams make the tournament field, comprised on 31 automatic bids and 33 at-large teams. The NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Selection Show will air Sunday, November 28 between 3 and 3:30 p.m. (ET) on ESPNews.
