Ball State University
3-3
South Alabama
2-4
Volleyball Ends UniWyo Classic With Loss To USA
September 06, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
LARAMIE, Wyo. - - Despite a career-high tying 17 kills from redshirt junior middle hitter Hayley Benson (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Bradley), the Ball State (3-3) women's volleyball team ended play at the UniWyo Cowgirl Classic with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-20) loss to South Alabama (2-4) Saturday afternoon at Wyoming's UniWyo Sports Complex.
For her play over the two-day event, Benson was named to the UniWyo Cowgirl Classic All-Tournament Team. In the Cardinals' three matches, Benson smashed a team-high 39 kills and posted a .492 (39-7-65) attack percentage. She also collected a team-high nine total blocks (two solo and seven assists) in the event.
“Although we tried to prepare our team mentally for an early morning match after playing in front of a sold-out crowd last night, we came out as flat as we could possibly be this morning,” Ball State head coach Steve Shondell said. “However, there were a couple of bright spots today. Hayley Benson continued her stellar play as a middle hitter and redshirt freshman Sabrina Mangapora came off the bench and provided our offense with some much-needed firepower.”
In her two sets of action against the Jaguars, redshirt freshman Sabrina Mangapora (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) came off the bench and added four kills on a .429 (4-1-7) attack percentage.
Overall, the Ball State offense was limited to a .122 (31-31-82) attack percentage for the match, while South Alabama connected at a clip of .291 (40-15-86). The Cardinals did hold a 26-to-21 edge in digs and a 5.0-to-2.0 advantage in team blocks for the match.
The Jaguars came out of the gate strong, scoring the first four points of the match. The Cardinals would draw within two points, at the 13-11 mark, only to see USA end the opening frame with a 12-4 run.
The teams played to a 3-3 tie in the second stanza, before a 5-1 run allowed South Alabama to build a five-point edge at 9-4. A block and kill from Benson helped the Cardinals pull within two, at 11-9, but Ball State would get no closer, losing the frame 25-19.
South Alabama looked like it was going to make quick work of the third set, pulling out to a 6-1 lead. However, Ball State battled back and eventually took its first lead of the match at the 15-14 mark in a run capped by a Mangapora kill and a USA attack error.
Ball State followed with two more points, including an ace from sophomore defensive specialist Nikki Box (Yorktown, Ind./Yorktown), to pull ahead 17-14. Unfortunately, the Jaguars answered back with 11 of the final 14 points to win the frame 25-20 and the match 3-0.
The Ball State women's volleyball team will continue its 12-match road swing next weekend, when it travels to Madison, Wis., for the HotelRED Invitational hosted by fourth-ranked Wisconsin.
The Cardinals open the two-day event Friday versus Missouri State (5:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. CT), and will play the University of Miami (11 a.m. ET / 10 a.m. CT) and the host Badgers (8:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. CT) Saturday.
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State women's volleyball, follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateWVB and @SteveShondell on Twitter.
- BallStateSports.com -
