For the fifth time in six years, Ball State women’s volleyball will take part in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament.
“We realized what was still in our control and we’re definitely still in a position to win the league and host and be in that first-place spot,” head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. “It is a huge part of our goals and we want to be continuing to rise to them by the end of the year but it feels good to be one step closer.”
Despite the win Saturday that clinched a tournament bid, the Cardinals suffered a 1-3 setback against Ohio the night before.
“We did not play well yesterday,” Phillips said. “I felt like Ohio played one of the best matches I have ever seen them play.”
The Friday loss marked the end of Ball State’s 13-match win streak and saw the Bobcats hold the Cardinals to a .156 hitting percentage.
Ohio had the advantage on blocks and service aces in their win from the weekend.
“We were just very average and [Ohio] came out swinging and we were on our heels from the very beginning,” Phillips said. “We learned a very tough lesson and it is that we need to be ready to play because people are going to come out and play their best against us.”
Coming into Saturday, Ball State made adjustments from their game plan the night before to ensure they do not fall into a deficit against the Bobcats for the second straight match.
“We had a few different blocking matchups versus their left side that I think made them think a little bit more and slowed them down which was huge for us,” Phillips said. “We got going offensively and we had production from[third-year outside hitter Cait] Snyder again (13 kills), [fourth-year middle blocker Marie] Plitt was huge (17 kills) and [first-year opposite] Maddie Buckley came off the bench and provided a huge spark offensively and with the blocking.”
The Cardinals wrap up regular season play Nov. 16 at Worthen Arena against MAC West Division rival Toledo at 6 p.m.
Contact Corbin Hubert with comments at cchubert@bsu.edu or on Twitter @corbin_hubert_.
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