Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
8-2
North Carolina
7-4
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ball State | 20 | 27 | 16 | 21 | 1 |
| North Carolina | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
North Carolina Tops Women?s Volleyball, 3-1
September 18, 2010 | Women's Volleyball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - - The Ball State (8-2) women's volleyball team opened play in the 2010 Tar Heel Classic with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-27, 25-16, 25-21) setback to tournament host North Carolina (7-4) Friday evening at UNC's Carmichael Arena.
"North Carolina is a top-50 caliber team, and our girls fought them as hard as we could," said head coach Steve Shondell. "We played five freshmen a good part of the match, against a veteran team of juniors and seniors. It was tough for us to manufacture points tonight and put the ball away. We gave a great effort tonight, but just came up short on the scoreboard."
In the match, the North Carolina defense was able to effectively shut down the Ball State offense, limiting the Cardinals to a season-low .006 (34-33-172) attack percentage.
On defense, the Cardinals limited a potent UNC offense to a .103 (53-35-174) rate of success, with the team collecting nine total blocks and senior libero Alyssa Rio (Wayne, Ill./St. Francis H.S.) adding a match and season-best 33 digs.
Junior setter Brittany McGinnis (Fraser, Mich./Fraser H.S.) led the Ball State attack with seven kills and a .583 (7-0-12) attack percentage. She also handed out 15 assists while recording seven digs and two block assists.
Junior middle blocker Kelsey Brandl (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North H.S.) added six kills, while tying for team-high honors with four total blocks (one solo to three assists).
Four Tar Heels finished the match with double-figure kills, led by 12 each from Courtney Johnston and Kayla Berringer. Kaylie Gibson led three North Carolina players in double-figure digs with 26.
After falling behind 3-1 in the opening set, the Cardinals rattled off five straight points, including a kill and block from Brandl, to take a 6-3 edge. UNC battled back, tying the score at seven before back-to-back kills from Berringer gave the hosts a 9-7 advantage. A pair of Tar Heel errors tied the score two points later, and the teams proceeded to play to a 13-13 stalemate.
With North Carolina holding a slim 16-15 lead after another kill from Brandl, the hosts rallied off eight of the next 10 points, pushing the score to 23-17 and forcing BSU to use both its time outs. While another kill from Berringer gave UNC set point on the next rally, BSU posted three straight points, including a block from McGinnis and Jennifer Boyd (Evans City, Pa./Seneca Valley H.S.) to pull within four at 24-20.
Unfortunately, the Tar Heels' Shelbey Bleke ended the frame with a kill on the next rally to close out the frame at 25-20.
Early kills from Whitney Heeres (Flushing, Mich./Flushing Senior H.S.) and Charde' Phillips (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria H.S.) helped Ball State pull out to a 4-2 lead to open the second set. Moments later a kill from Kylee Baker (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North H.S.), which was set up by a over pass save on a ball into the net from Catie Fredrich (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls H.S.), extended the lead to four at 7-3.
Following a UNC timeout at 13-8, a block assist from Brandl and Heeres pushed the lead to six at 14-8. The Tar Heels would pull within four at 15-11, only to see kills from Baker and Boyd help take the advantage back to six at 18-12. However, the hosts answered again, capitalizing on kills from three different players to draw within one at 18-17.
With the score at 19-18, a pair of UNC errors helped Ball State reclaim a three-point edge at 21-18. After a kill from McGinnis made the score 23-21, a pair of Cardinals' errors tied the score at 23. A tip from UNC's Christine Vaughen gave North Carolina the first set point, but back-to-back Brandl blasts helped BSU recapture the edge at 25-24.
The Tar Heels tied the score one last time, at 25-25 thanks to a Johnston kill, only to have an attack error and a solo block from Phillips seal the Ball State set victory at 27-25.
North Carolina controlled the entire third set, scoring the first six points and never looking back, winning the frame 25-16. Senior Hannah Sullivan (New Albany, Ind./New Albany H.S.) led the Cardinals with four kills in the frame.
Ball State scored the first three points of the fourth game, in a run capped by a Heeres kill. The hosts responded with the next three points, and from there, the teams played to an 8-8 deadlock. Ball State used a pair of North Carolina attack errors to pull ahead by two at 10-8, only to have four-straight points from the Tar Heels give the hosts a 12-10 lead.
North Carolina continued to roll after a Ball State timeout, scoring the next three points to up their lead to five at 15-10. After trailing by as many as seven, at 18-11, the Cardinals used a kill from Heeres and aces from Kaylee Schembra (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli H.S.) and Brandl to battle back within two at 21-19. Unfortunately, with Ball State trailing 23-20, a pair of service errors over the next three rallies cost the Cardinals the set at 25-21.
The Ball State women's volleyball team continues play in the 2010 Tar Heel Classic Saturday with a pair of matches versus Temple (11 a.m.) and Appalachian State (5:30 p.m.).
