Ball State University
3-5
Miami (Florida)
5-3
Women?s Volleyball Suffers 3-2 Setback To Hurricanes
September 13, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
MADISON, Wis. - - The Ball State (3-5) women's volleyball team opened the second day of the HotelRED Invitational with a 3-2 (23-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-16, 15-8) loss to the University of Miami (5-3) Saturday morning at No. 4 Wisconsin's UW Field House.
In winning the first two sets, the Ball State defense limited the Hurricanes attack to a .107 (23-14-84) hitting mark. Unfortunately, Miami's offense came to life over the final three frames, connecting for a .421 (41-9-76) rate of success to pull out the 3-2 win.
Redshirt freshman Sabrina Mangapora (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) led the Ball State attack with 15 kills, recording a career-high kill total for the second consecutive match.
Junior setter Jenna Spadafora (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) was the only other Ball State player to finish the match with double-figure kills, earning a season-high 12. She also dished out 38 assists to become the first Cardinal to tally a kill/assists double-double since Nov. 14, 2006 (Angie Parrell 10 kills and 55 assists versus Buffalo).
In the Ball State backcourt, redshirt junior libero Alex Fuelling (Decatur, Ind./Bellmont/Morehead State) logged her second-consecutive match with 20-plus digs, finishing with a match-high 22.
Overall, the Ball State offense connected for a .184 (55-26-158) attack percentage while Miami finished the match at .256 (64-23-160). The Cardinals held a 10.0-to-9.0 edge in team blocks, while Miami won the defensive battle with 67 digs compared to Ball State's 64.
Miami's Savanah Leaf led all players with 19 kills, while Emani Sims added 16. Kalysta White paced the Hurricanes backcourt with 16 digs.
With the score of the opening set tied at 12-12, the Cardinals went on a 5-2 run to pull out to a 17-13 advantage and force a Miami timeout. The Hurricanes answered with the next four points to tie the score, before pulling ahead 23-22. However a pair of kills from Spadafora helped the Cardinals rattle off the next three points and win the frame 25-23.
Junior defensive specialist Kati Vasalakis (Yorktown, Ind./Yorktown) opened the second set with an ace, as the Cardinals jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Ball State controlled the frame from there, winning 25-20 on a kill from redshirt junior middle hitter Kelly Hopkins (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo).
The Cardinals scored the first two points of the third set, only to see the Hurricanes respond with the next two. With the score tied at 5-5, Miami turned in a 14-6 run to pull ahead 19-11. The hosts on the scoreboard went on to take the frame 25-16.
The fourth frame was close early, with Miami holding a slim 6-5 advantage. However, the Hurricanes found the momentum once again, with a 12-4 run, to build an 18-9 edge. Miami would go on to win the set 25-16.
Miami scored the first two points of the fifth frame, and never looked back, taking the set 15-8.
The Ball State women's volleyball team concludes play in the HotelRED Invitational later this evening with an 8:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. CT) start versus fourth-ranked Wisconsin.
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State women's volleyball, follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateWVB and @SteveShondell on Twitter.
- BallStateSports.com –
