Volleyball Blasts Past Toledo in Thursday #MACtion

Thursday, October 4

Muncie, IN

7 p.m.

Ball State University

13-5 (4-1MAC)

University of Toledo

7-9 (2-3MAC)

Toledo

Ball State

October 04, 2018 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score PDF Box Score

MUNCIE, Ind. - - Led by a trio of players with double-digit kills, the Ball State women's volleyball team completed its three-match homestand with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-19) sweep of Mid-American Conference West Division rival Toledo Thursday night in Worthen Arena.

In picking up its third consecutive MAC sweep, the Cardinals (13-5; 4-1 MAC) offense could hardly be stopped as BSU finished the night with a .374 (54-8-123) attack percentage. It was the team's third-best offensive performance of the season and its best in league play since a .396 (45-7-96) effort versus Buffalo on Sept. 30, 2017.

Defensively, Ball State limited the visiting Rockets (7-9; 2-3 MAC) to a .197 (38-15-117) rate of success aided by nine total blocks to raise its league-leading blocks-per-set average to 2.39 on the year.

Senior outside hitter Ellie Dunn paced all players with 15 kills, upping her career total to 912 which ranks 15th on BSU's career charts and leaves her five shy of passing both Stacy Jordan's (1982-85) and Michele Winkle's (1982-84) career totals of 916 kills for 13th in program history.

Dunn also hit an astonishing .395 for the match, not tallying a single attack error in 38 attempts. The effort marks the first time in her career Dunn has logged no errors in a match with at least seven attempts. She also finished the contest with four digs and a block assist.

Junior middle Sydnee VanBeek led Ball State's attackers with a .611 attack percentage, collecting 11 kills on 18 swings with no errors. Redshirt senior middle Meg Starling was not far behind, hitting .333 with 12 kills on 24 attempts with four errors. VanBeek also led the Cardinals at the net with six total blocks, while Starling notched three.

Junior setter Amber Seaman guided the Ball State offense to the .374 attacking mark, handing out 43 assists which is the second-highest total in a three-set match in her career. She also scored four kills of her own and hit .667 (4-0-6), while earning four digs, three block assists and a pair of aces.

In the backcourt, junior libero Kate Avila collected a team-high 22 digs, while junior defensive specialist Anna Jensen added 10.

Chloee Kleespies and Emma Swope led the Toledo attack with 10 kills each, while Maurissa Leonard had a match-high 23 digs.

Head Coach Kelli Miller:
"We certainly wanted to keep the momentum from last weekend. When you're at home, you have to take advantage of all those opportunities. We knew Toledo was coming in hungry and we wanted to make sure we had energy and were prepared to execute our game plan from the get-go."

"I thought our serve receive passing was pretty solid tonight. That allowed us to run a variety of plays and set a variety of attackers. It always starts with your first ball, and I thought we did a really good job in that area tonight."

"The loss at Northern Illinois really put things in perspective for our team. We realized we had to turn our game up to another level, especially in practice. We have been working really hard, and we have a group that it means a lot to be out here. We have a senior-heavy group, and we are just working hard every day and making the most of the opportunities we get."

Inside the Numbers:
- With a smash off the block to make the score 16-10 in the opening set, Ellie Dunn became just the 15th player in program history to reach 900 career kills. She finished the night with a match-high 15 kills to raise her career total to 912.

- After collecting a pair of aces in Thursday's win over Toledo, Amber Seaman raised her career total to 84. Seaman, who leads the Cardinals with 21 aces this season, is looking to become just the 19th player in program history to reach 100 career aces.

- Junior libero Kate Avila collected 22 digs in Thursday's win over Toledo to extend her streak of matches with double-digit digs to 47 and raise her career total to 76. She also raised her career digs total to 1,429 which ranks sixth in program history.

Up Next:
The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to the road Saturday, when it visits Buffalo for a 6 p.m. first serve at Alumni Arena.

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

- BallStateSports.com -