Volleyball’s Season Comes To A Close in NIVC Second Round

Friday, December 1

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT

Ball State University

17-15,13-5MAC

Clemson

19-13,8-10ACC

Clemson

Ball St.

Volleyball’s Season Comes To A Close in NIVC Second Round

December 01, 2023 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score: Ball State 2 - Clemson 3

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - - The Ball State women's volleyball team battled until the end Friday night but fell a few points short in a 3-2 (26-24, 25-17, 23-25, 118-25, 15-8) setback to Clemson in the second round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) at Middle Tennessee's Alumni Memorial Gym.

With the loss, the Cardinals end the season with a 17-15 overall record. The Tigers improve to 19-13 and advance to next week's third round.

"Tonight was another tough match," head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. "I felt like our group wasn't quite as sharp as we were yesterday. Part of that had to do with Clemson being a big physical team. They had a strong net presence which made it more difficult for us to score. It was a heck of a match by both teams and I'm proud of our group. We just came up a couple points short in a couple sets."

Overall, four Cardinals finished the night with double digit kills, led by redshirt freshman Aniya Kennedy's match-high 22. It was her eighth outing with 20-or-more kills this season which is the eighth most for a Ball State attacker in a single season in program history. Kennedy also led all attackers with a .457 (22-1-46) hitting percentage.

In her final collegiate match, fifth-year middle Marie Plitt scored 14 kills and hit .448 (14-1-29). The effort helped her finish her career with a program record .362 hitting percentage, to go along with the sixth-most kills in the BSU record book at 1,322.

Also scoring double digit kills were freshman outside Kendall Barnes and sophomore opposite Madison Buckley at 13 and 12, respectively.

All four were set up by junior setter Megan Wielonski who registered her 4,000th career assist in the third set. Just the sixth player in program history to break the 4,000-assist mark, Wielonski finished the night with 57 assists and 12 digs for her 17th double-double of the season. She also served up one more ace, raising her career total to 144 which is fourth in BSU annals.

In her final collegiate match, fifth-year libero Havyn Gates led the Ball State defense with 21 digs to raise her BSU career total to 1,115 and her overall career total to 2,239. Senior defensive specialist Kate Vinson chipped in five digs in her last time wearing the Cardinal and White, raising her career total to 728. She also led Ball State's primary passers with a perfect reception percentage on 16 attempts.

"In the post-match huddle, I told everyone what a blessing it was to be able to have two more weeks for our seniors," Phillips added. "They are such great people and true competitors. They worked hard in the gym from the second they stepped on campus and gave their maximum effort while maintaining their focus that it was about something bigger than their class or them. They played for the love of the game, they played for each other. I couldn't be prouder to be able to coach them, and this entire group. They certainly represented our program and themselves extremely well."

While the Cardinals jumped out to an early 4-1 edge in the opening set, the Tigers battled back to even the score at seven. From there, the team's battled to a 19-19 stalemate before a three-point run gave Clemson a 22-19 advantage. Ball State would survive a pair of set points, starting at 24-22, before a service error and ace gave the Tigers the frame at 26-24.

Clemson carried over the momentum into the second frame, scoring the first five points and building a 7-1 lead. Ball State would get as close as four, at 14-10, only to see the Tigers score the next three to regain control as it went on to win the set 25-17.

The Cardinals responded early in the third, jumping out to a 5-1 lead after an ace from junior defensive specialist Kendall Seimet and a kill from freshman middle Camryn Wise. Ball State went on to take a five-point edge at 9-4 after back-to-back Clemson errors.

While the Tigers responded with a 10-1 run to pull ahead 14-10, it was short lived as BSU regained the advantage at 16-15 with a 6-1 run. The teams battled to a 22-22 deadlock before a kill from Plitt and an ace from Vinson gave BSU set point. Clemson would stay alive for one more point before a kill from Kennedy sent the match to a fourth frame.

Kennedy followed with two more kills to open set four, helping Ball State jump out to another 5-1 start. Once again, the Tigers battled back, tying the score at 7-7. From there, the teams battled to a 14-14 tie before another Plitt blast started a 4-0 Cardinals run, giving the hosts on the scoreboard a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the set. BSU went on to win the frame 25-18 on Kennedy's 19th kill of her match-high 22.

Unfortunately, Clemson would score the first three points in the fifth frame to force an early Ball State timeout. The Cardinals would get within one at 3-2 and 4-3, only to see a 6-1 run give the Tigers all the momentum at 10-4. Despite a pair of kills from Kennedy down the stretch, BSU dropped the set 15-8 to end its postseason run.

On the other side of the net, Kateryna Tkachenko led the Tigers' offense with 15 kills, while the squad connected for a .333 rate of success. In the backcourt, Devan Taylor led all players with 24 digs.