Volleyball Rallies Past Western Michigan in MAC Opener

Friday, September 21

Kalamazoo, MI

7 p.m.

Ball State University

10-4, 1-0MAC

Western Michigan University

10-5, 0-1MAC

Ball State

Western Michigan

Volleyball Rallies Past Western Michigan in MAC Opener

September 21, 2018 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score PDF Box Score

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - - The Ball State women's volleyball team rebounded from a slow start to open the 2018 Mid-American Conference season with a 3-1 (17-25, 25-17, 25-19, 26-24) come-from-behind victory over Western Michigan Friday night at University Arena.

In running its current winning streak to a season-high five matches, the Cardinals (10-4; 1-0 MAC) also picked up the 900th win in the storied history of the Ball State women's volleyball program.

After being limited to a .026 (10-9-38) attack percentage in the opening set, the Cardinals hit .221 (46-19-122) over the final three sets to defeat the Broncos (10-5; 0-1 MAC) for the fifth consecutive time in the regular season.

Leading the charge for the Ball State offense was junior middle Sydnee VanBeek who tied for match-high honors with 17 kills. Her biggest two were back-to-back blasts to end the fourth set and seal the victory. VanBeek also led the Cardinals at the net with five total blocks (one solo and four assists), while connecting for a .350 (17-3-40) attack percentage.

Overall, the Ball State offense was very balanced on the night, with six different players logging at least six kills. Following VanBeek, freshman opposite Reece Kral was second on the list with nine kills.

Senior outside attacker Ellie Dunn added eight kills and a match-best and career-high 19 digs, while redshirt senior middle Meg Starling and sophomore outside attacker Kia Holder added seven kills each.

Junior setter Amber Seaman rounded out Ball State's top attackers with six kills and a career-best .857 (6-0-7) attack percentage, while leading the league's top offense to a .175 (56-28-160) attack percentage by dishing out 43 assists.

Aided by 12.0 team blocks, the Ball State defense limited the league's second-best attacking team to a .164 (48-24-146) rate of success, led by Rachel Bontrager's match-high tying 17 kills. Bontrager also led four WMU defenders in double-figures with 16 digs.

Head Coach Kelli Miller:
"We came out a little bit flat and Western Michigan came out swinging. They were on fire and I think we tried to overplay a little bit early. We were able to calm down and sets two through four and play our style of volleyball which made all the difference."

"Sydnee wanted the ball at the end of the match. She was a big presence attacking and blocking, and I felt like tonight she was on fire and certainly led us to the win."

"Heading into tomorrow, we know we have to come out more relaxed and do the things we normally do. We can't be overly worried about all the external factors of being on the road and playing in league matches. I know that's hard, but that's something we have to learn so we can come out relaxed and focused on us."

Inside the Numbers:
- Including tonight's 17-kill performance versus Western Michigan, junior middle Sydnee VanBeek has led the Ball State offense in kills four times this season, doubling her career total entering the season. She has registered double-digit kills in seven of Ball State's 14 matches, raising her career total to 17 matches. In addition, VanBeek has hit .300-or-better nine times and ranks in the top five in the conference with a .359 (133-32-281) attack percentage for the year.

- Ball State improved to 3-4 when dropping the opening set this season, with the other wins coming versus Oral Roberts (Sept. 1) and versus UMBC (Sept. 14). In addition, the Cardinals are now 10-2 this season when winning the second stanza and are 3-2 when losing the first and winning the second frames.

- With her 18 digs in Friday's win over Western Michigan, junior libero Kate Avila has recorded double-digit digs in 43 consecutive matches and 72 times over her career. Her 1,363 career digs rank sixth in program history, while her 4.59 career digs-per-set average is fourth.

Up Next:
The Ball State women's volleyball team looks to improve to 2-0 in MAC play tomorrow, when it visits Northern Illinois for an 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT first serve at Victor E. Court in DeKalb, Illinois.

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 -