After one of its worst weekends of the season, Ball State could only improve on the road against Eastern Michigan.
But Ball State (14-14, 7-8) once again teased its potential by sweeping Eastern Michigan (17-14, 7-8) in three sets (25-23, 25-22, 30-28) on the strength of All-Mid-American Conference libero Catie Fredrich and the Cardinals’ 87 digs.
Coach Steve Shondell called it the team’s best digging performance of the year.
Fredrich said the back row defense’s success after struggling so much last weekend against Western Michigan and Northern Illinois came from adjustments assistant coach Kelli Miller made this week.
“It helped us a lot because we had all great defenders back there,” Fredrich said. “We were digging the ball nonstop and nothing was hitting the floor.”
Ball State nearly dropped the third set after being up 23-16 at one point. Eastern Michigan tied it as 24 and the two programs battled into overtime before Ball State sealed the match 30-28.
Losing such a big lead wasn’t preferred, but Shondell said it was the way Ball State fought back defensively that impressed him.
“The fact we had to fight like the dickens just to pull that out in overtime just showed a lot of character tonight,” Shondell said.
Freshman outside hitter Jenna Spadafora fired a team-high 13 kills on 47 swings for the match while also adding 15 digs.
But it was Fredrich’s 29 digs in just three sets that paced Ball State. She said the rebound win should rebuild the team’s confidence to close the season and prepare for the conference tournament.
“We’ve had rough weekends lately, and I think just having that will bring a lot of confidence to our team tomorrow and for the MAC tournament”
After another example of how inconsistent Ball State has been this season, Fredrich said it’s a reminder of how the Cardinals should have looked all season.
“We have so much potential to play like this,” Fredrich said. “And I feel like playing like this, obviously it’s going to give us a lot of confidence for the MAC tournament, but our team should have been playing like this the whole year. I think it was just time for us to make adjustments and come together.”
