In last weekend’s Kentucky Invitational, the Ball State Women’s Volleyball took two wins from two matches before getting swept by the host team in the final match.
At the Indiana Invitational this weekend, the Cardinals took wins over Chicago State and Southern Indiana before dropping the first two sets to the hosts.
Facing a result that would mirror the previous weekend, Ball State shot out to a five-point lead in the third set and didn’t look back.
“I think it took us about a set and a half to get settled in,” head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. “Once we did, I thought we played really, really even with them.”
After getting a foothold in the match, the Cardinals pushed Indiana to extra points in the fourth set before extending the match to a fifth with a 27-25 victory.
The rebellion was in vain with the Hoosiers taking the fifth set and the match victory to end the weekend.
The Cardinals still walk away from the weekend 2-1 and 5-4 on the season. A fair showing, but the loss to Indiana is eerily similar to last year’s Mid-American Conference (MAC) quarterfinal loss to Bowling Green: Go down 0-2, win sets three and four, lose in the fifth set.
“When you’re playing good teams, (this loss) emphasizes that you can’t give them any extra points where you’re having a mental lapse or silly errors,” Phillips said. “Those things get magnified when you’re playing great teams.
That would be the same thing in the MAC tournament. It’s not as much finishing as maintaining clean volleyball from start to finish and learning how to play like that all the time.”
Chicago State — 25-20, 25-14, 25-18 (3-0 win)
Ball State logged its third match sweep of the season over Chicago State to open up play in Bloomington on Friday. The Cardinals rotated more than a dozen players on and off the court in the victory, which has been seen often in the past two weekends of pre-conference play.
“I tell the team every week that I’m still trying to figure out what’s going to be our best lineup,” Phillips said. “I’ve said from the beginning, we have great depth and that is going to be a strength of ours. The first two matches gave us an opportunity for some people to get some good quality minutes and get experience.”
The Cardinals hit .276 as a team with 16 players seeing the court. Eight different players logged at least one kill and 11 at least one dig. Leading the kills column was graduate middle Aayinde Smith, who recorded eight while adding in a team-high five total blocks.
Through nine games this season, Smith has 29 total blocks, leading all Ball State players and averaging more than three blocks a set.
“I definitely think I meshed with the girls well on and off the court pretty quickly and it translated to on-the-court action this year,” Smith said.
Freshman outside hitter Carson Tyler (7), sophomore middle Camryn Wise (6), junior opposite Madison Buckley (6) and redshirt sophomore outside hitter Aniya Kennedy (5) all recorded five or more kills in the victory as well.
In the back row, freshman libero Sophie Ledbetter put up a solid outing again with a team-high 18 digs, including a perfect 16-for-16 when receiving serves. Senior setter Megan Wielonski logged seven digs while leading the team with 28 assists.
Ball State also held the Screaming Eagles to a .102 success rate.
Southern Indiana — 25-23, 25-17, 25-17 (3-0 win)
In their first of two Saturday games, the Cardinals brought out the broom again with a sweep of Southern Indiana The match followed a similar scoreline to Ball State’s Friday afternoon victory over Chicago State as the first set saw a victory within a five-point margin before sets two and three saw larger leads.
“You’re absolutely trying to sweep everybody, every time out,” Phillips said. “We’re trying to take a lot of pride in being the best versions of ourselves, and (if) you get an opportunity to sweep somebody, you want to go out and do it.”
Buckley shined bright in the second match of the weekend, leading all Ball State players with a season-high 13 kills. With her performance against Indiana University in game three, she averaged 3.3 kills per set on the weekend.
“We’ve been putting in a ton of work in with her the last couple weeks,” Phillips said. “She’s somebody that puts good work in, she’s super physical and I think she is slowly starting to see how good she can be.”
Smith was at it again at the tape with a team-high five blocks. Ball State had nine total blocks in the victory and held the Screaming Eagles to a .100 hitting mark.
Wileonski again kept the Cardinal offense humming, turning in 37 assists as Ball State finished with a .310 hitting percentage.
Ledbetter, who could be solidifying her role in Ball State’s back line ahead of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) regular season, grabbed 21 digs, notching 20+ for the third time in her young collegiate career.
“Sophie’s done a great job coming in and playmaking,” Phillips said. “She is somebody that just makes the routine work, but also makes those game-saving plays that you need.”
Indiana — 18-25, 22-25, 25-20, 27-25, 13-15 (2-3 loss)
Despite the five-set loss, Ball State was more efficient than the Hoosiers, hitting 62 kills on 135 attacks (.274) compared to Indiana’s 64 kills on 160 attacks (.244).
Leading the way for Ball State with 21 kills, Tyler matched her career-high in the loss while Smith (11), Buckley (11) and sophomore outside hitter Kendall Barnes (12) all reached double-digit kills.
One of the major notes for Ball State in the loss was Indiana’s nine service aces.
“Certainly, we don’t want any,” Phillips said. “When you’re playing a team like IU, that’s 100 percent what they hang their hat on.”
While Ledbetter collected a dozen digs against Indiana, Wielonksi topped the stat sheet with 16 while also notching a team-high 46 assists.
Ball State faces Butler on the road on Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. before returning to Worthen Arean the following night against Wright State for its home opener.
Contact Daniel Kehn with comments at daniel.kehn@bsu.edu or on Twitter @dn_sports.
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