The Ball State women's volleyball team definitely knows how tokeep matches exciting. The Cardinals downed IPFW in five gamesTuesday night to win the second match in a row that the team hashad to go the distance.
After taking game one by a score of 30-24, Ball State droppedthe next two games 30-27 and 30-23. The Cardinals then ralliedagainst the Mastodons and captured game four 30-17.
This set the stage for a decisive game five, which proved to bedramatic. The score in the final frame was knotted six times beforethe Cards grabbed the last five points to win the game 15-10 andtherefore the match.
Head coach Randy Litchfield said he saw many similaritiesbetween Tuesday's match and Ball State's match this past Saturdayagainst Toledo.
"It felt like the Toledo match all over again," he said. "Wejust played the middle section of the match horribly. Then we cameback in games four and five and played some of the best volleyballof any team I've ever coached."
The Cardinals had plenty of heroes in the victory. Sophomoreoutside attacker Sarah Obras tallied 21 kills and 24 digs on thenight for her twelfth-consecutive double-double. Junior setterStacie Baldwin narrowly missed a triple-double by registering sevenkills, 53 assists and 15 digs.
According to Litchfield, though, the most-influentialperformance came from sophomore middle attacker Melissa Oliver, whofinished with 15 kills, two solo blocks and six block assists.
"Mel Oliver was really key for us," he said. "She had a goodoffensive night and just went on a blocking frenzy."
Blocking is the main part of the game the Cardinals still needto work on in Litchfield's opinion.
"We've got to maintain our physical presence at the net," hesaid. "We've spent darn near two weeks working on our blocking. Tome it looks really good except for falling asleep in the middle ofmatches."
The match was a homecoming of sorts for Litchfield, a Fort Waynenative. While he said it was nice to be home, it was even better toleave with a win.
"It's great to be here," Litchfield said. "They have great fans.This rivalry started as a men's volleyball one but is now firmlyentrenched for the women's team too."
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