Little time was wasted by Ball State in securing a satisfying win to end its regular season schedule Saturday night.
In only an hour and 22 minutes, Ball State quickly swept visiting St. Louis 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-18) to earn its 25th win of the season and keep itself in the running for a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
A steady and balanced offensive attack across the lineup led to a .340 attack percentage from Ball State in the match, well above the .159 success rate St. Louis has held its opponents to this season.
"Hitting wise, we were all on tonight," senior middle blocker Jennifer Boyd said. "We actually watched video on them earlier in the week, and they put up a pretty good block, but they just couldn't stop us tonight. We were ready for them."
Success on offense came without a sure dominant attacker in the match, as only sophomore outside hitter Whitney Heeres had double-digit kills for Ball State, finishing with 10.
That was a product of senior setter Brittany McGinnis, who spread the ball around to allow four different Cardinals to collect at least seven kills.
"I thought Brittany made good decisions tonight," coach Steve Shondell said. "She made good choices with her setting. She ran a very balanced offense and got everyone involved. That made it difficult for St. Louis to focus on just one or two people."
Now with a final record of 25-7, players and coaches will await the final announcement on all NCAA Tournament teams to see if they are included in the field.
Boyd said the team will gather at Shondell's home Sunday night to watch the announcement together, which will be broadcasted on ESPNU at 6 p.m.
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