3-0; WVB Tops William & Mary To Claim USF Invite Title

TAMPA, Fla. - - Ball State's middles were nearly unstoppable Saturday morning, as they combined for 27 kills and a .453 (27-3-53) attack percentage to lead the women's volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-13, 25-14) victory over William & Mary at The USF Corral.

"Our middles really started going behind the setter today," head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. "They did a good job of working to put themselves in good spots to get the ball, and they took care of business when they got set."

With the win, the Cardinals (3-0) captured the USF Opening Weekend Invite championship and opened the year with an unblemished 3-0 record for the third straight season.

"While we finished today's match strong, one area we have to continue to improve is our consistency," Phillips added. "We had moments of really, really good volleyball, and had moments of average play. We have to keep getting into the gym and working to replace those average moments with good play."

Plitt continued her early season strong play, leading all attackers with 16 kills and hitting an impressive .500 (16-2-28) for the day. With the effort, she finished the weekend tied for the team lead with 37 kills and hit an impressive .356 (37-6-87).

The only Ball State starter to finish the season-opening tournament with a higher attack percentage was Gilliland, who smashed 11 kills and hit .400 (11-1-25) against the Tribe (0-3). She finished the weekend with 28 kills and a .373 (28-3-67) rate of success, to go along with a team-high 14 total blocks.

Overall, the Cardinals finished the match with a season-best .320 (60-11-153) attack percentage as sophomore setter Megan Wielonski dished out 45 assists, while picking up 13 digs for her second double-double of the season. She also served up three more aces, giving her seven over the first three matches.

Rounding out Ball State's top attackers in Saturday's win over the Tribe were senior outside Natalie Risi with 10 kills and a .308 (10-2-26) hitting mark and senior opposite Natalie Mitchem with seven kills and a .500 (7-0-14) rate of success.

RIsi also collected 12 digs for her third double-double of the season, while senior libero Maggie Huber led the Ball State defense with 15 digs.

Other key contributors on offense were senior outside Addie Halverson with five kills, freshman outside Katie Egenolf with a career-high four kills, and junior outside Cait Snyder with three of the matches final eight kills. Redshirt junior Cailyn Bolser also scored two kills, including the final marker of the match.

Overall, the Ball State defense limited William & Mary to a .158 attack percentage, while the offense held a 60-to-44 edge in kills. Ball State also out-aced the Tribe 10-to-3 and earned a 5.0-to-3.0 lead in blocks, while W&M held a slim 69-to-68 advantage in digs.

The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to action next Friday when it opens play in the LUV Invitational with a 2 p.m. CT match versus Oklahoma and a 7 p.m. CT nightcap against host Lipscomb.

"We're happy to come out with a tournament win this weekend," Phillips said. "Our staff got a lot of notes on areas we must improve. That's why you play these non-conference weekends; to get prepared and better for the next weekend. The Lipscomb tournament is going to be a fun one filled with physical play and high-level competition. We will get back in the gym this week and get ready to go."

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Team Stats

Marie Plitt

Lauren Gilliland

Natalie Risi

Natalie Mitchem

Players Mentioned

Cailyn Bolser

Katie Egenolf

Addie Halverson

Maggie Huber

Natalie Mitchem

Natalie Risi

Cait Snyder

Megan Wielonski