Volleyball Sweeps Wright State, Moves To 5-0

Saturday, September 5

Fairborn, OH

4 p.m.

Ball State University

5-0,0-0MAC

Wright State

2-3,0-0Horizon

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Ball St.	32	25	25	3
Wright St.	30	16	12	0

The Ball State women's volleyball team celebrates a point in the Sept. 4, 2026 victory over Dayton

Photo by: Shane DiMantova - Ball State Athletics

September 05, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

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FAIRBORN, Ohio - - After prevailing in a ferocious battle in the opening set, the Ball State women's volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 (32-30, 25-16, 25-12) victory over Wright State to close play in the Tru by Hilton Beavercreek Invitational Saturday afternoon at the Nutter Center.

"Wright State came out on fire, and we did a really good job of just taking it a point at a time," head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. "Then we had a few people step up and take big swings to finish off the set. Sometimes you must win a set by gutting it out and that's how I felt about set one."

In taking down the Horizon League preseason favorite, the Cardinals hit a season-best .366 (53-12-112) and saw three attackers once again reach double figures. Junior outside Audrey Geer led the way, earning her fourth consecutive double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs.

Junior outside Ava Smith was not far behind, collecting her third double-double of the season, and second of the weekend, with 13 kills and 10 digs. Rounding out Ball State's trio in double digits was fifth-year senior middle Madison Buckley who made the most of her first start this season with 10 kills and three blocks.

The win over the Raiders (2-3) Saturday was Ball State's third over a conference preseason favorite this weekend, as it topped Western Kentucky from Conference USA Thursday and Dayton out of the Atlantic 10 Conference Friday.

"I am super proud of this team," Phillips added. "We had to fight tooth and nail for every point this weekend and the mental toughness and resilience shown all the way to the end was really fun to be a part of!"

In addition, both WKU and UD received votes in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll.

The combined effort was led by the dynamic setting duo of senior Lindsey Green and sophomore Reese Axness who had the Cardinals operating at peak form. Saturday would see Axness lead the duo with 28 assists, while Green tallied 10. Both would also collect seven digs, while Axness served up two aces and Green one.

Led by Saturday's effort, the pair guided the Cardinals to a .322 (155-39-360) attack percentage for the weekend, with all three matches above .300.

In the backcourt, junior libero Sophie Ledbetter continued her charge to 1,000 career digs, corralling a team-high 13 to raise her career total to 995.

Other key contributors in Saturday's win over the Raiders were senior middle Gwen Crull with four kills and a match-high four blocks, junior opposite Tiffany Snook with five kills and two digs, and freshman middle Leah Pike with five kills and a .625 (5-0-8) attack percentage in her first collegiate start.

"Leah has been a consistent presence both offensively and defensively," Phillips said. "I liked the match up she gave us and she did a great job in there tonight."

On the defensive end, Ball State limited Wright State to a .169 (41-20-124) attack percentage with Katie Sowko earning a team-high eight kills. Taygan Corstange led WSU with 16 digs and had the team's lone service ace.

The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to action Friday, when it opens play in the Fairfield Inn and Suites Dunn Campbell Invitational with matches versus Stetson (11 a.m.) and the host Camels (6 p.m.).