Each week, The Ball State Daily News sports staff picks its PPQ — the player, play and quote of the week. And, with the help of our online readers, the weekly fan choice is also featured.
Here's this week's best:
Player: Nicole Allen, gymnastics
Competing against top national and conference opposition, Allen, a freshman, had some of the best performances of her young Ball State career over Spring Break. Allen had two career highs (balance beam and floor exercise) against Central Michigan. She also bested her vault season average with a 9.7 in front of a crowd of almost 4,000 at the University of Florida.
Play: Amanda Carpenter, softball
The freshman outfielder, who was named MAC West Player of the Week on Monday, put the exclamation point on a three-run fourth inning for Ball State in its win March 13 versus Stony Brook in Clearwater, Fla. Carpenter hit a two-run homer — the Cardinals' second dinger of the inning — to spark Ball State to the win.
Quote: "It's tough to have the season end, but my hope is that we have invested in something other than basketball and I think that's what we did." — Women's basketball coach Kelly Packard after her team's season ended with a 67-56 loss to Toledo in the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena.
Fan Choice: J.D. Gasparovic, men's volleyball
With nine votes and 26 percent of the vote, Gasparovic narrowly topped gymnastics' Nicole Allen (eight votes) and softball's Elizabeth Milian (seven) to take this week's Fan Choice vote. Gasparovic totaled 33 kills at a .438 rate in the Cardinals' West Coast swing last week at Grand Canyon, UCLA and Pepperdine.
To vote in next week's poll, be sure to visit Monday's online edition of The Ball State Daily News.
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