Dunn’s Career-High 22 Kills not Enough to Lift Volleyball Past Kent State

Friday, October 14

Muncie, Ind.

7:00 PM

Ball State University

8-13 (4-3MAC)

Kent State

11-9 (4-3MAC)

Kent State

Ball State

Photo by: Michael Hickey

Dunn’s Career-High 22 Kills not Enough to Lift Volleyball Past Kent State

October 14, 2016 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score WVB Box Score - Kent State

MUNCIE, Ind. - - Despite a career-high 22 kills from sophomore outside hitter Ellie Dunn (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland), the Ball State women's volleyball team suffered a 3-2 (25-18, 25-23, 16-25, 23-25, 15-6) setback to Kent State Friday night in Mid-American Conference play at Worthen Arena.

After dropping the first two sets, the Cardinals (8-13 / 4-3 MAC) battled back to take the next two and force a deciding fifth frame. Unfortunately, a couple of key defensive plays from the Golden Flashes' (11-9 / 4-3 MAC) libero sparked the guests to a fifth set victory.

"Tonight was a typical Mid-American Conference battle to the end," first-year head coach Kelli Miller said. "Both teams played great defensive and made it tough to get into any kind of rhythm on offense. I think the biggest turn of events came early in the fifth set when Kent State's libero made an unbelievable save. She really sparked them and seemed to be everywhere in the final set."

With her career-high 22 kills, Dunn became the third different Ball State player to score 20-or-more kills in a match this season. She also finished the match with a team-high .295 (22-9-44) attack percentage, four digs and one of the Cardinals' three solo blocks.

"Ellie turned in one of the best performances she has had in quite some time," Miller said. "All week in practice she was starting to feel confident in what she was doing. She's worked really hard to put herself in this position and it paid off tonight. I expect consistent efforts like this from her here on out."

Ball State is the only MAC program to have three different players score at least 20 kills in a match this season, with Dunn, redshirt junior outside hitter Sabrina Mangapora (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) and sophomore right side Brooklyn Goodsel (Corry, Pa./Corry Area) each accomplishing the task.

Both Goodsel and Mangapora also turned in strong offensive performances Friday against the Golden Flashes with Goodsel logging 17 kills and Mangapora adding 11. Goodsel added a career-high 19 digs to her stat line for her sixth double-double of the season, while Mangapora capped the fourth-set battle with a solo block.

Despite the loss, Ball State's backcourt turned in a pretty impressive performance versus Kent State, logging 101 total digs. Five different players collected double-digit digs for the Cardinals led by 21 from freshman setter Amber Seaman (Carmel, Ind./Brebeuf). Freshman libero Kate Avila (Yorktown, Ind./Yorktown) notched 20 digs to give Ball State two players with 20-or-more digs in the same match for the first time since Nov. 14, 2015 versus Central Michigan.

Rounding out Ball State's top contributors on defense were sophomore Lauren Schreiner (East Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville North) with a season-high 16 digs and freshman Hannah Smith (Selma, Ind./Wapahani) with 13 digs. Overall, Ball State's passers finished the match with a .989 (94-for-95) reception percentage against the Golden Flashes who entered the week ranked fifth in the MAC at 1.27 aces per set.

"I was really happy with our passing tonight," Miller added. "I don't think we could have passed much better. Defensively, we had some really long extended rallies and some strong pursuit plays. I thought we battled hard in the ball control area. I think the biggest thing we told the team tonight was we have to learn that we can't come out slow in set one and expect it to be easy in sets two, three and four. We were just a little too slow getting after it in set one. It is something we will learn from, and hopefully take to heart in the future."

The Ball State women's volleyball team closes its two-match home stand Saturday, with a 7 p.m. first serve versus Ohio on "Dig Pink" night. The first 400 fans in attendance will receive a special pink stadium cup. In addition, the team will be hosting a post-match autograph session.

Fans can help the Cardinals in their "Dig Pink" initiative by visiting the team's donation page hosted by the SideOut Foundation at: https://giving.side-out.org/campaigns/11874

For the most up-to-date news on Ball State women's volleyball, follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateWVB and @VBCoachMiller on Twitter.

Ball State volleyball fans can purchase single match tickets (Adult - $6 / Youth - $4) by calling (888-BSU-TICKET) or visiting the Ball State's Stoops Buick/GMC Ticket Center inside Worthen Arena.

- BallStateSports.com -