Ball State University
6-6
Notre Dame
5-5
Despite a Match-High 11 Kills From Hopkins, WVB Falls To Notre Dame
September 18, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - - Despite a match-high 11 kills from senior middle Kelly Hopkins (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo), the Ball State women's volleyball team opened play in the Purdue Boiler Box Challenge with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-19) loss to Notre Dame Friday afternoon at Holloway Gymnasium.
“As well as Notre Dame played, this afternoon we were our own worst enemy,” Ball State head coach Steve Shondell said. “We were the victims of 43 unforced errors on our side of the net, which in turn, made it impossible to defeat our in-state opponent. We did receive an excellent individual performance from senior middle attacker Kelly Hopkins. However, we needed a lot more than one great individual performance to defeat a Notre Dame team which played outstanding and steady the entire match.”
In addition to her match-best 11 kills versus the Fighting Irish (5-5), Hopkins finished the contest with a season-best .556 (11-1-18) attack percentage and logged a pair of block assists. Fellow senior middle Amanda Raker (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian/Butler) also turned in solid attacking numbers for the Ball State offense, hitting .500 with five kills and one error on eight attempts.
While the middles were able to find success, the Notre Dame defense was able to shut down the remainder of the Ball State attack, limiting the Cardinals to a .079 (30-23-89) attack percentage. In addition to the team's attacking struggles, service errors and defensive miscues haunted Ball State in the loss, as the team committed 10 service errors, five blocking errors and five reception errors.
In the Ball State backcourt, senior libero Kati Vasalakis (Yorktown, Ind./Yorktown) led all players with 11 digs, while also earning a perfect reception percentage by successfully passing all 15 serves she faced. Senior defensive specialist Marissa Hine (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville/Belmont) and redshirt junior Mackenzie Kitchel (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove/Cincinnati) also finished the match with perfect reception percentages, each successfully passing the 11 serves they faced, while collecting three digs apiece.
Notre Dame, which connected for a .313 (35-9-83) attack percentage in the match, was led offensively by Sam Fry's 10 kills. Sydney Kuhn and Ryann Dejarld tied for team-high honors with seven digs apiece.
After the Fighting Irish led the entirety of the opening set, the Cardinals found themselves in a 7-2 hole early in the second stanza. This time, however, the Cardinals were able to battle back and even the score at 10 on a service ace from Hopkins. The score remained tied at 16 before a 9-2 Notre Dame run ended the set.
The teams traded the first four points of the third set, before the Fight Irish began to pull away. Notre Dame eventually won the frame 25-19 to sweep the match.
The Cardinals (6-6) return to action later this evening with a scheduled 7:30 p.m. first serve versus 22nd-ranked Purdue back in Holloway Gymnasium. Ball State closes the two-day tournament Saturday at 5:30 p.m. against South Dakota in a contest which will be played in Mackey Arena.
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State women's volleyball, follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateWVB and @SteveShondell on Twitter.
- BallStateSports.com -
