Another Big Night For Snyder, Another Volleyball Victory

MUNCIE, Ind. - - Junior outside Cait Snyder capped what proved to be the best weekend of her career to date with a career-high 18 kills to lead the Ball State women's volleyball team to a 3-1 (26-24, 19-25, 25-11, 25-21) victory over Buffalo Saturday evening at Worthen Arena.

"We are starting to develop some consistency in what we are doing playing wise," head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said after the team's fourth-straight win. "Cait Snyder is really starting to perform at a high level consistently and that makes a huge difference. We're starting to get comfortable; we're starting to get into rhythm and playing more like I thought we were capable of playing."

One day after blasting a then-career-high 15 kills in a four-set win over Akron, Snyder once again paced the Cardinals (12-6; 4-2 Mid-American Conference) offense with her new career mark. She led a trio of BSU attackers in double figures to help Ball State improve to 28-1 all-time versus the Bulls (10-9; 2-5 MAC).

"Cait has put in great effort and it's paying off," Phillips added. "She's developing more shots, and that's the biggest thing. She's always had a great arm and can hit hard, but now she is developing her off-speed and hitting smart roll shots. That has completely changed the dynamic of her game and is going to help her continue to get better and better at scoring points."

After a back-and-forth battle in the opening set, which Ball State won 26-24 on a Buffalo attack error, the Bulls managed to even the match with a six-point second set victory.

Much like Friday night, however, the Cardinals answered in a big way in the third, running away with the set behind five kills from Snyder. The junior from Hamilton, Indiana, also ended the match with her 18th blast, putting an end to a three-point Bulls run after BSU reached match point at 24-18.

But it was not just the Snyder show in Worthen Arena Saturday, as senior middle Marie Plitt and senior outside Natalie Risi added 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Plitt , who hit .524 (13-2-21) on the night, was key in BSU's late fourth set run with back-to-back kills to give BSU a 22-17 edge and force Buffalo's second timeout.

Risi shined on both ends of the court, adding 17 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. She also registered three blocks, including a pair of solo stuffs, and a service ace.

In addition to running the Ball State offense to a .277 (64-20-159) attack percentage on the night, sophomore setter Megan Wielonski paced the Ball State backcourt with 20 digs, to go along with 54 assists for her 12th double-double of the year.

Senior middle Lauren Gilliland would lead the Cardinals at the net with five total blocks, while adding nine kills. Senior libero Maggie Huber also added 15 digs, while senior defensive specialist Havyn Gates served up three of BSU's six aces.

Courtney Okwara led the Buffalo attack with 13 kills, while Katrin Trebichavska scored 10 kills and collected a team-high 23 digs.

Overall, Ball State limited the Bulls to a .194 (50-20-155) attacking mark, while holding a 79-to-66 edge in total digs. BSU also out-blocked and out-aced Buffalo.

After winning its last four matches at home, the Ball State women's volleyball team returns to the road this coming weekend with a pair of matches at Northern Illinois. The Cardinals and Huskies will battle at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT Friday and 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT Saturday at Victor E. Court.

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Team Stats

Cait Snyder

Marie Plitt

Natalie Risi

Natalie Mitchem

Players Mentioned

Havyn Gates

Lauren Gilliland

Maggie Huber

Marie Plitt

Natalie Risi

Cait Snyder

Megan Wielonski