Courtesy of MAC Sport Information Departments
Ball State 3, Toledo 2
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. -- The Ball State women's volleyball team gave the fans who showed up for the first-ever "Chirp or Treat" Spooktacular quite a show Thursday night in Worthen Arena, surviving six Toledo set points in the fifth set to earn a hard-fought 3-2 (17-25, 25-15, 26-28, 25-23, 23-21) victory.
With the win, the Cardinals (12-11; 6-5 Mid-American Conference) snapped a season-long three match losing streak and kept the Rockets (7-16, 0-11 MAC) winless in league play.
At no point was the victory easy, however, as Toledo won the opening set to put the pressure on Ball State early and then rallied from down 7-4 in the fifth to earn a pair of match points at 14-12.
The Cardinals would not be scared away, scoring the next two points and forcing a back-and-forth battle from there. Ball State had its first match point at 18-17, but failed to capitalize. The teams then played to a 21-21 stalemate, before freshman outside Natalie Risi ended the battle with a huge kill and a service ace.
"We just kept fighting tonight," head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said after the match. "I thought both teams played really scrappy, at a high level and it could have went either way. I'm just glad we continued to fight, continued to believe and got the two points we needed at the end."
While the ace to win it might have been Risi's biggest play of the night, she also turned in another dominating performance on the offensive front, topping her career-high from the previous contest versus Bowling Green (Oct. 26) with a match-high 27 blasts against the Rockets. She also secured 11 digs for her sixth double-double of the season, while serving up three total aces.
Risi was not the only Cardinal with double-digit kills Thursday. In fact, five Ball State players finished the night in double figures. Junior outside Kia Holder was second on the team with 13 kills, senior middle Sydnee VanBeek added 12, junior opposite Reece Kral collected 11 and freshman middle Marie Plitt spooked up 10.
It's the second time this season Ball State has had five players with 10-or-more kills, and both matches were set by freshman Esther Grussing who dished out a career-high 64 assists against Toledo.
Overall, Grussing had the Cardinals offense connecting at a .252 (75-24-202) clip and earned her third career double-double by adding 14 digs.
Senior libero Kate Avila led the Ball State backcourt with 29 digs, while freshmen defensive specialists Maggie Huber and Chloe Rickenbach added 16 and 14, respectively. Ball State's backcourt play helped limit the Rockets to a .222 (67-24-194) team attack percentage.
"We knew coming in Toledo was going to give us a fight," Miller Phillips added "They have been in so many close matches. But, I think for us, it's just that breathe of relief that 'okay we've got this'. Sometimes, it's hard to get over that hump and we have a lot of young players continuing to belief that we can do it. I think tonight showed us the amount of fight we have in us. The amount of girt and the belief we have in ourselves. We just need to take it one point at a time."
The Ball State women's volleyball team closes its season-long four-match homestand Saturday with a schedule 7 p.m. first serve versus Buffalo, its remaining opponent from the MAC East Division.
Buffalo 3, Akron 2
Box Score
AKRON, OH – The University at Buffalo volleyball team had plenty of tricks up their sleeve on Thursday night and in the end they were treated to a 3-2 road victory at Akron, their second straight road victory over a division leader. The Bulls improve to 9-14 on the season and 5-6 in MAC play.
For those that witnessed the first match between these two teams, it was no surprise that another classic was brewing inside of Rhodes Arena. However, this time it was the Bulls who were victorious, taking the contest 30-28, 22-25, 25-22, 24-26, 15-9. Buffalo narrowly outhit Akron, .204 to .169.
The Bulls had to fight back from an early deficit in the first set as they trailed 8-5, but they weren't spooked by the slow start using a 5-1 run to take the 10-9 lead. A kill from junior Lexi Nordmann extended the Buffalo advantage to 15-12, before the Zips regained the lead 20-17. UB fought off the first set point as Akron led 24-23, but it was then the Zips who fought off three set points, tying it up at 28-28. A kill from freshman Abby Leigh followed by a block from Leigh and senior Rachel Sanks clinched the opening set for the Bulls, 30-28.
Akron answered back with a win in the second set, but in the third it was the Bulls who carved out another victory. The Zips held on to a 13-11 edge when UB scored three straight as a block from Nordmann and sophomore Monika Simkova put Buffalo ahead 14-13. A kill by senior Polina Prokudina extended the lead to 17-14 and an ace from sophomore Paige Beck put Buffalo ahead 22-17. The Bulls continued to lead 24-19 before Akron fought off three set points to pull within two. A block from Leigh and Simkova clinched the set however, giving Buffalo the 2-1 lead.
Buffalo had a match point in the fourth set, but Akron fought it off and scored the final three points to send the match into a fifth set. It was the 11th fifth set match of the year for Buffalo.
UB quickly shook off the cobwebs and dominated the final set. Akron led 3-2 early when the Bulls scored three straight to take the 5-3 lead. Leading 6-5, Buffalo ran off four straight points, which left the Zips seeing ghosts. A kill by Sanks put UB ahead 10-5.
A block from Leigh and Simkova extended the Buffalo advantage to 13-7 and a kill by Prokudina clinched the set and the match.
For the second straight match, Prokudina and Sanks both had 20-kill nights, led by 23 from Prokudina, who hit .242 on the night. Sanks added 20 kills, while Leigh had eight and Nordmann and Simkova each finished with seven.
Senior setter Scout McLerran had 57 assists on the night to go along with three kills.
UB put forth a huge defense effort that included 81 digs and 12.0 total blocks. Beck finished with a team-high 21 digs, while senior Hannah Watson added 12. Simkova and freshman Jenna Sonnenberg each added 10 digs.
Leigh and Nordmann each had six blocks in the match, while Simkova added five and Sanks and McLerran each finished with three.
Central Michigan 3, Western Michigan 1
Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- The Central Michigan volleyball team rebounded after dropping the first set on Thursday to claim a four-set Mid-American Conference victory over rival Western Michigan at McGuirk Arena.
The Chippewas completed the season sweep of the Broncos with a 22-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-22 victory, improving to 19-4, 9-2 MAC. Western is 12-11, 3-8.
The Chippewas hold a three-game lead in the MAC West over second-place Ball State with five matches to play.
"Anytime you can beat a rival, beat somebody on your side (of the Mid-American Conference standings) and somebody in the final six matches or the second half of MAC play, it's going to be a good win," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said.
How It Happened
Western Michigan posted a .500 attack percentage in the first set, but the Chippewa defense responded, holding the Broncos to a .125 percentage over the final three.
CMU hit at a season-high .351 on the night with just 14 attack errors, and finished with 60 kills. The 14 errors are a season low for CMU in a four-set match, and its 60 kills is its second-best total for a four-setter.
The Chippewas never trailed in the final three sets, and they finished with eight aces, matching their third highest total of the season.
"I was really pleased with our offensive effort from start to finish," Gawlik said. "Offensively, we're doing a lot of good things, limiting our errors and we're hitting at a high kill rate.
"But I really liked that we were able to lock down defensively, especially in sets two and three. I was pretty pleased with our athletes tonight."
Leaders
Kalina Smith led CMU with 19 kills on a season-best .351 attacking percentage, while freshman Anna Erickson hit at a team-best .500 and finished with 10 kills. Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez added nine kills on a .438. attacking percentage.
Erickson's attack percentage equaled her career high, and her 10 kills were one shy of her career best.
Grace Butler posted 26 assists for the Chippewas, while Megan Kern finished with 18 digs.
"It's not really hard to play well when you have a good team surrounding you," Smith said. "Volleyball isn't a one-person sport; you have to have all six girls on the court doing their job in order for the team to be successful.
"If you have one weak link, other teams will target that and pick you apart. Our service was really good tonight, and our setters put us in a position to where we could attack the ball."
Next
The Chippewas will entertain Northern Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 2 (5:30 p.m.). The Huskies (5-5 MAC) are scheduled to play at Eastern Michigan on Friday.
Fans presenting a ticket stub from Saturday's CMU-NIU football game will be admitted for free to the volleyball game. The Chippewa and Huskie football teams are set to kick off at noon.
