Saturday, October 27
Muncie, IN
7 p.m.
Ball State University
19-6 (10-2MAC)
3
vs
0
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Western Michigan University
13-13 (3-9MAC)
1
2
3
F
Western Michigan
16
23
21
0
Ball State
25
25
25
3
Volleyball Celebrates Alumni Night with Sweep of WMU
October 27, 2018 | Women's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - With some of the greatest players in program history in attendance, the Ball State women's volleyball team honored the storied tradition of the program with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-21) sweep of perennial Mid-American Conference power Western Michigan Saturday night in Worthen Arena.
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In leading the Cardinals (19-6, 10-2 MAC) to their third consecutive and 14th overall sweep of the season, junior setter Amber Seaman hit a pair of career milestones versus the Broncos (13-13, 3-9 MAC).Â
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The first came at the 18-9 mark of the opening stanza when she set redshirt senior Jessica Lindsey for a kill to became just the sixth player in program history to reach 3,000 career assists. The second cut WMU's lead to 4-3 in the second frame when she served up her 100th career ace.
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Overall, Seaman finished the night with 30 assists to raise her career total to 3,023 and a pair of aces to up her career mark to 101. She also had a solid night on defense, adding three block assists and 12 digs for her fifth double-double of the season.
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Seaman also set a very balanced offensive match, with eight different Cardinals recording at least two kills. After registering her 1,000th career kill in Friday night's win over Northern Illinois, senior outside attacker Ellie Dunn once again led the BSU offense with nine kills versus the Broncos. Redshirt senior middle Meg Startling was right behind with eight kills and she also hit a match-best .429 (8-2-14).
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While the Cardinals offense as a whole was only able to connect for a .124 (37-21-129) rate of success against the tough Western Michigan squad, Ball State's defense more than made up for it with 10 total blocks and 62 digs to hold the Broncos to a .077 (34-24-130) attack percentage.
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Junior libero Kate Avila led a trio of Cardinals in double figures with a match-high 22 digs, while freshman defensive specialist Cathryn Starck added 12. At the net, junior middle Sydnee VanBeek notched a match-high six total blocks, including three solo stuffs.
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Meredith Philips paced the WMU offense with 10 kills, while Kathleen Reilly led four Broncos in double figures with 16 digs.
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Head Coach Kelli Miller:
"I thought both teams played really good defense tonight. I was really impressed with Kate's performance. She was really locked in and making plays all over the court. She was a big piece of what we did from passing the ball to serving, and was a steady presence for us all night."
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"At different times, different things went well for us tonight. I thought our service pressure was pretty consistent and I liked how our serve and pass game went. When you're serving and passing, you can stay with anybody."
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"We knew coming in that Western Michigan is a relentless team on defense. They make plays, they are scrappy and they keep balls alive. If you get frustrated because your first attack doesn't go down, then that plays to their advantage. I thought we really settled down and continued to focus on our side and that made a big difference in the end."
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By The Numbers:
- With Saturday's sweep of the Broncos, the Cardinals improved to 14-0 in three-set matches this season. The last time Ball State had 14 three-set wins in a season was 2013 when the Cardinals went 14-2 in such matches and 24-8 (12-4 MAC) on the year.Â
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- The 14 three-set wins are the most sweeps in the rally scoring era (2001-present) for the Cardinals. Ball State went 17-2 in three-set matches in 2000, the final year of side-out scoring.
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- With her two aces in the win over WMU, junior setter Amber Seaman raised her career total to 101 which is tied for 15th in program history. She needs 12 more aces to break into the top 10, while she is 90 aces shy of the program record 191 set by Stacy Jordan (1982-85).
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- With her 22 digs versus WMU, junior libero Kate Avila extend her streak of matches with double-digit digs to 54 and raised her career total to 83. She also raised her career digs total to 1,554 which ranks sixth in program history. She needs just 26 more digs to pass Amanda McCormick's (2005-06) career total of 1,579 for fifth on BSU's career charts.
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Up Next:
The Ball State women's volleyball team opens a three-match road swing next Friday with a 7 p.m. first serve at Central Michigan (Nov. 2). The Cardinals will also travel to Eastern Michigan (Nov. 3) and Toledo (Nov. 8), before closing out the regular season with a home match versus Akron (Nov. 10).
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Follow The Cardinals:
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State women's volleyball, follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateWVB and @VBCoachMiller on Twitter.
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- BallStateSports.com -
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In leading the Cardinals (19-6, 10-2 MAC) to their third consecutive and 14th overall sweep of the season, junior setter Amber Seaman hit a pair of career milestones versus the Broncos (13-13, 3-9 MAC).Â
Â
The first came at the 18-9 mark of the opening stanza when she set redshirt senior Jessica Lindsey for a kill to became just the sixth player in program history to reach 3,000 career assists. The second cut WMU's lead to 4-3 in the second frame when she served up her 100th career ace.
Â
Overall, Seaman finished the night with 30 assists to raise her career total to 3,023 and a pair of aces to up her career mark to 101. She also had a solid night on defense, adding three block assists and 12 digs for her fifth double-double of the season.
Â
Seaman also set a very balanced offensive match, with eight different Cardinals recording at least two kills. After registering her 1,000th career kill in Friday night's win over Northern Illinois, senior outside attacker Ellie Dunn once again led the BSU offense with nine kills versus the Broncos. Redshirt senior middle Meg Startling was right behind with eight kills and she also hit a match-best .429 (8-2-14).
Â
While the Cardinals offense as a whole was only able to connect for a .124 (37-21-129) rate of success against the tough Western Michigan squad, Ball State's defense more than made up for it with 10 total blocks and 62 digs to hold the Broncos to a .077 (34-24-130) attack percentage.
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Junior libero Kate Avila led a trio of Cardinals in double figures with a match-high 22 digs, while freshman defensive specialist Cathryn Starck added 12. At the net, junior middle Sydnee VanBeek notched a match-high six total blocks, including three solo stuffs.
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Meredith Philips paced the WMU offense with 10 kills, while Kathleen Reilly led four Broncos in double figures with 16 digs.
Â
Head Coach Kelli Miller:
"I thought both teams played really good defense tonight. I was really impressed with Kate's performance. She was really locked in and making plays all over the court. She was a big piece of what we did from passing the ball to serving, and was a steady presence for us all night."
Â
"At different times, different things went well for us tonight. I thought our service pressure was pretty consistent and I liked how our serve and pass game went. When you're serving and passing, you can stay with anybody."
Â
"We knew coming in that Western Michigan is a relentless team on defense. They make plays, they are scrappy and they keep balls alive. If you get frustrated because your first attack doesn't go down, then that plays to their advantage. I thought we really settled down and continued to focus on our side and that made a big difference in the end."
Â
By The Numbers:
- With Saturday's sweep of the Broncos, the Cardinals improved to 14-0 in three-set matches this season. The last time Ball State had 14 three-set wins in a season was 2013 when the Cardinals went 14-2 in such matches and 24-8 (12-4 MAC) on the year.Â
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- The 14 three-set wins are the most sweeps in the rally scoring era (2001-present) for the Cardinals. Ball State went 17-2 in three-set matches in 2000, the final year of side-out scoring.
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- With her two aces in the win over WMU, junior setter Amber Seaman raised her career total to 101 which is tied for 15th in program history. She needs 12 more aces to break into the top 10, while she is 90 aces shy of the program record 191 set by Stacy Jordan (1982-85).
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- With her 22 digs versus WMU, junior libero Kate Avila extend her streak of matches with double-digit digs to 54 and raised her career total to 83. She also raised her career digs total to 1,554 which ranks sixth in program history. She needs just 26 more digs to pass Amanda McCormick's (2005-06) career total of 1,579 for fifth on BSU's career charts.
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Up Next:
The Ball State women's volleyball team opens a three-match road swing next Friday with a 7 p.m. first serve at Central Michigan (Nov. 2). The Cardinals will also travel to Eastern Michigan (Nov. 3) and Toledo (Nov. 8), before closing out the regular season with a home match versus Akron (Nov. 10).
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Follow The Cardinals:
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State women's volleyball, follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateWVB and @VBCoachMiller on Twitter.
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- BallStateSports.com -
Team Stats
WMU
BSU
Kills
34
37
Errors
24
21
Attempts
130
129
Hitting %
.077
.124
Points
42.0
50.0
Assists
32
35
Aces
1
3
Blocks
7.0
10.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
DS
/ Women's VolleyballOH
/ Women's Volleyball
OPP
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's Volleyball
DS
/ Women's Volleyball
MH
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