Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
4-5
Washington State
7-1
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ball State | 22 | 22 | 20 | 0 |
| Washington State | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Dunn?s Career-High 11 Kills Not Enough To Lift WVB Past Washington State
September 12, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
PULLMAN, Wash. - - Freshman outside hitter Ellie Dunn (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) turned in another solid performance against a strong opponent, but it was not enough to carry the Ball State women's volleyball team past a tough Pac-12 foe in Washington State Friday night in a 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-20) loss at Bohler Gym.
"We put up an excellent fight against a very physical Washington State team that is off to a great start this season," Ball State head coach Steve Shondell said. "We were in every set tonight until the end, when it seemed WSU over powered us with their physicality. We had a lot of players play well and compete at a very high level. We are battling some adversity this season, but adversity makes every team stronger if it is dealt with in a positive way. We are excited about the future of our team, our program, and battling WSU to the wire in three close games was a positive sign of things to come."
Dunn registered a team-high and career-best 11 kills for the Cardinals (4-5), but ultimately the host Cougars (7-1) claimed their seventh consecutive straight set victory of the season and improved to 2-0 in their own Cougar Challenge. Last weekend, Dunn registered a then-career-high 10 kills versus Lipscomb (Sept. 4) and finished the two-day Lipscomb Invitational ranked second on the squad with 21 kills.
Following Dunn, freshman Brooklyn Goodsel (Corey, Pa./Corey Area) and senior setter Jenna Spadafora (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) each tallied five kills for the Ball State offense, with each also logging an identical .333 (5-1-12) attack percentage and a pair of service aces. Spadafora also finished the match with 26 assists and eight digs, while Goodsel collected five digs.
With her 59 assists so far at the Cougar Challenge, Spadafora enters tomorrow's tournament finale versus Morehead State (7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT) needing four more assists to become the 10th player in program history to dish out 2,000 assists over her career.
In the backcourt, senior libero Kati Vasalakis (Yorktown, Ind./Yorktown) led all players with 13 digs to move her tournament total to 20 and her career total to 866, which leaves her 19 digs shy of breaking into the top 20 on Ball State's career chart.
Overall, the Cougars were able to claim victory by holding the Cardinals attack to a .175 (33-16-97) rate of success, which was aided by eight total blocks. The Ball State defense also did a solid job, limiting WSU to a .223 (41-18-103) attack percentage with the help of three team blocks. In the backcourt, Washington State held a slim 40-to-38 advantage in team digs.
Kyra Holt led the Cougars with 15 kills, while McKenna Woodford added 11. Kate Sommer paced the WSU backcourt with 12 digs.
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State women's volleyball, follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateWVB and @SteveShondell on Twitter.
- BallStateSports.com -
