With tonight’s 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-19) win over Miami (OH), Ball State Women’s Volleyball has now swept its last eight opponents on the bounce, setting a new program for both consecutive sets won (25) and consecutive match sweeps while extending its unbeaten streak to nine matches.
“I think it’s just going to get tougher and tougher and tougher each step of the way from here on out,” head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. “Overall, I feel good about where we’re at, but it’s a long way from being over.”
Key to the win was middle hitter Aayinde Smith’s eight blocks, tied for her second-highest tally of the season. With tonight’s total, the graduate student also has hit 400 career blocks.
“Every scout [meeting], we’re always toned in on who we’re going up against,” Smith said. “So kudos, or congratulations, to our coaching staff for doing what they need to do to get us prepped for each game so it’s not any different from any other game.”
As a team, Ball State out-blocked the Redhawks 13-2, holding the visitors to a .076 hitting percentage, the fourth-lowest percentage of the season. The Cardinals brought the net pressure early, with four blocks in the first set.
“That was huge,” Phillips said. “We talk a lot about starting early, starting fast. You don’t want to ease into matches, it’s got to be from the jump, you’re ready to go. Blocking presence certainly helps that. It sets the tone, it gets into the minds of the attackers when there’s somebody there getting touches on every single swing. It makes [them] think twice about [their] swings and that’s certainly important.”
While stifling Miami, the Cardinals hit their second-best clip of the season at .402 with three players hitting 10 kills and three others registering five.
Of Ball State’s three players to hit 10 kills tonight, redshirt sophomore opposite Aniya Kennedy had the best rate of success, hitting .600. The other two players, junior opposite Madison Buckley and freshman outside Carson Tyler, hit .533 and .350 clips, respectively.
“I think a strength of our team is our offensive balance and our ability to ball handle so that we can get multiple people the ball,” Phillips said. “It’s great to be able to have a variety of options and a variety of people hit at a high level.”
Mid-American Conference (MAC) Defensive Player of the Week Sophie Ledbetter led all players with 10 digs while the setter duo of senior Megan Wielonski and sophomore Lindsey Green combined for 40 assists. Since Ball State transitioned to a 6-2 offense (utilizing two setters), the Cardinals are 10-1 and averaging a .307 hitting percentage per game.
Now, the attention turned to Ball State’s penultimate meeting of the regular season as the Cardinals host Western Michigan for a pair of matches on Friday and Saturday.
The Broncos sit even with Ball State in the MAC standings with 12-4 conference records (Western Michigan is 16-11 overall, compared to Ball State’s 19-8) and notably won the 2023 MAC Tournament Championship.
“It’s about resetting mentally, physically [and] making sure we’re taking care of ourselves,” Phillips said. “Nobody else but us and Miami plays a third match this week, so we’ve got to make sure that tonight [and] tomorrow we reset, we get our bodies physically as absolutely fresh as we can be going into the weekend.
And then it’s just the same as what we’ve been doing all year. I think that’s one mark that’s going to help our team: We have played like it matters from game one, so it’s not like suddenly we’re trying to turn it on and it’s tournament time. We’ve been playing hard. Every single match matters, so that will translate well to just keep doing what we’re doing.”
First serve at Worthen Arena Nov. 15 is set for 6 p.m., while the return matchup Nov. 16 is slated for 4 p.m.
Contact Daniel Kehn via email at daniel.kehn@bsu.edu or on X @daniel_kehn.
Read More
Garfield creator Jim Davis visits Ball State for film screening and Q&A
By Olivia Ground / 1 hours agoThe event, hosted by the School of Art, brought in a large crowd to Pruis, filling up every seat in the hall. Community members and students of all ages showed up with Garfield shirts, backpacks, books and more.
'That's what you want for your guys:' Ball State falls to Dayton in front of packed arena
By Zach Carter / 1 hours agoBall State fell to Dayton 77-69, giving the Cardinals their second loss on the season.
'Beauty of the ballet:’ Ally Becki’s triple-double leads Ball State women’s basketball over Memphis
By Elijah Poe / 2 hours agoSenior Ally Becki recorded the first triple-double since 2010 for Ball State women’s basketball in a Ball State 95-66 win over Memphis.
