Ball State erased a 2-1 deficit to defeat Western Michigan 3-2 (22-25, 25-21,16-25, 25-21, 15-10) on Saturday night to pick up is fifth straight victory.
In the fourth set, the Cardinals also came back from behind 12-7 to win 25-21 and force a decisive fifth set.
The fifth set was dominated by the Ball State offense, with junior outside hitter Brooklyn Goodsel recording three kills in the set. She would finish with 10 kills on the evening. Junior opposite hitter Ellie Dunn led the Cardinals with 17.
Freshman setter Ali Finch had her second straight night of 40-plus assists and 10-plus digs, finishing with 47 and 12. Sophomore libero Kate Avila led Ball State with 24 digs.
For the Broncos, freshman outside hitter Rachel Bontrager led the game with 17 kills and defensive specialist Kathleen Reilly notched 25 digs.
Next up, the Cardinals (19-10, 11-5 MAC West) will play in the MAC Tournament as the 3-seed, holding off Ohio who finished a game behind.
Ball State will play the winner of Central Michigan and Western Michigan in the second round of the tournament at 7 p.m. Friday at Millett Hall at Miami University. The winner of the match with take on 2-seed Bowling Green in the semifinals on Saturday.
An earlier version of this story said Ball State was going to play Buffalo in the second round of the MAC Tournament.
Contact Sam Barloga with comments at sabarloga@bsu.edu or on Twitter @SamBarloga
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