Carson Tyler isn’t coy about the more intangible sides of the sport of volleyball before every match.
“I have a lot of superstitions,” she laughed. “I get dressed the same way, I do my hair the same.”
When those superstitions pay off, like Ball State Women’s Volleyball’s 10-game unbeaten run in the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the freshman outside hitter said she pays more attention to those little things.
“I think everything just feels right in those moments, so you want it to continue to feel right,” Tyler said. “You just try to repeat that and recreate that every single game.”
The Cardinals (20-8, 13-4 MAC) dismantled MAC-rival Western Michigan (16-12, 12-5) at home for its ninth consecutive sweep and 28th consecutive set victory tonight.
The Pavillion, New York, product smashed 11 kills, had five blocks, and 10 digs (15.5 total points) in the victory, which came just one week before the MAC Tournament.
“I think [the win] shows [the rest of the conference] you don’t want to mess with us,” Tyler said. “I think we’re peaking at the right time.”
Western Michigan sat tied in conference records with Ball State heading into the matchup. The win all but secures a No. 3 seed for the Cardinals in the postseason conference tournament.
“I think the league as a whole is super, super strong,” head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. “On any given night, teams can play at an unbelievable level. Tonight we certainly did. We were playing at a really, really high level for three straight sets.”
While the sides were neck-and-neck to start the match, the Cardinals were able to pull away with a five-point run midway through the first set. Phillips said the service pressure was key to creating separation, which allowed for the defense to make what she calls “game-savers” — plays that may be a little out of reach but payers need to find a way to make.
“When you’re playing big-time opponents, when you’re trying to win championships, you’ve got to have those game-saving plays,” she said. “We’ve been working hard on that, so it wasn’t a shock, but it was great to be able to continue to see things we’ve been working on at practice show up on the court.”
Tyler’s stand-out night began early, with the outside hitter getting four kills to land in the opening 13 points. She was well-complimented by redshirt junior outside hitter Aniya Kennedy who matched her kill total at 11 with a .600 hitting clip and junior opposite hitter Madison Buckley who notched nine kills on a .429 hitting percentage.
Ball State’s .423 hitting percentage as a team is the second-best this season (.446 against Akron Oct. 11) and ranks 12th all-time.
“I think it’s really important [to pair with Tyler], especially for an opponent because they don’t know which way to go,” Kennedy said. “Either side could get a kill or get a block.”
Kennedy’s presence at the net was not as felt as Tyler’s, but sophomore Gwen Crull — who missed the previous three matches with injury — and graduate student Aayinde Smith helped supplement the tape.
The middle hitters combined for 11 blocks and 10 kills as Ball State held Western Michigan to a .117 hitting percentage — its lowest of the season.
“[Crull] has been a consistent presence for us blocking-wise [and] she’s worked really hard to continue to develop herself offensively,” Phillips said. “I just felt like she was the right matchup tonight.”
Senior setter Megan Wielonski dished out 24 assists tonight, with sophomore setter Lindsey Green’s 20 assists close behind.
Freshman defensive specialist Sophie Ledbetter was atop the defensive effort with 14 digs, while junior outside hitter Katie Egenolf matched Tyler’s 10 digs and chipped in six kills.
The Cardinals will face the same opponent on the same court in less than 24 hours. The Broncos will no doubt look to bring something different to the table in the return matchup, but Phillips said her team doesn’t need to do anything to shake it up.
“We do exactly what we’ve been doing from start to finish,” she said. “We’re going to continue to get ourselves prepared mentally [and] physically to play our best and be as ready as possible for whatever they throw at us.”
First serve tomorrow in Worthen Arena is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Contact Daniel Kehn via email at daniel.kehn@bsu.edu or on X @daniel_kehn.
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