Courtesy of MAC Sport Information Departments
Ball State 3, Eastern Michigan 1
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. -- After dropping the opening set and falling behind 10-4 in the second, Ball State women's volleyball head coach Kelli Miller Phillips did just what she had done numerous times over the course of the season; turned to perhaps the deepest bench in the Mid-American Conference.
And just like they have on many of those occasions, the moves paid off. The Cardinals (16-11; 10-5 MAC) followed the slow start with a 14-2 run to gain control not only in the set, but for the remainder of the match in a 3-1 (23-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-23) victory over Eastern Michigan Friday night at Worthen Arena.
While the rally was a team effort, it was definitely sparked by the play of freshman opposite Allison Hamaker who blasted seven kills in the second set alone and finished the night tied with junior outside Kia Holder for team-high honors with 13.
"Allison was absolutely huge in set two," Phillips said. "She was on fire. Everything she was hitting was going down. She just gave us a renewed energy. She's always a very positive, high-emotion player and it gave our team such a tremendous spark when we were in a lull. Her numbers were huge, and she completely changed the mentality on the court."
Friday's win over the Eagles (10-17; 5-10 MAC) was big in many ways for the Cardinals, first and foremost, because it sets up a senior night battle with Central Michigan (21-6; 11-4 MAC) for a third consecutive MAC West Division title.
In addition, with Akron (16-10; 9-6 MAC) losing at Kent State Friday night, the Cardinals have climbed into fourth in the overall league standings and are in a position to earn a first round bye into next week's MAC Championship.
With several key matches set for tomorrow night, the Cardinals also have the potential to tie for the league's regular season title with a win and a Miami (16-10; 11-4 MAC) loss to Western Michigan.
"Tomorrow is senior night, and I know our four seniors are going to be ready to go," Phillips said. "It's going to have some high emotion, but our focus is still on just getting better. Regardless of who we are playing, and what the situation is, we just need to be ourselves. We are not going to put much of an emphasis on doing anything different, we just need to continue to trust that what we do is good enough. Just work to get that one percent better, compete hard and let the chips fall where they may."
Turning back to the win over the Eagles, the Cardinals also received double-digit kills from freshman middle Marie Plitt, who found the floor 10 times. Freshman outside Natalie Risi and senior middle Sydnee VanBeek chipped in eight each, while freshman outside Natalie Mitchem added six.
Ball State also turned in a tremendous effort in the backcourt, with four players logging double-digit digs to help the Cardinals out-dig EMU 91-to-85. Senior libero Kate Avila led the way with 26 digs, followed by Risi with 18 and freshman defensive specialist Maggie Huber with 16.
The fourth player with double-digit digs, senior setter Amber Seaman with 13. She also handed out 20 assists for her fourth double-double of the season and combined with freshman setter Esther Grussing to lead the Cardinals to a .218 (59-20-179) attack percentage.
In addition to her team-high 26 digs, which raised her career total to 2,142, Avila helped Ball State turn up the service pressure with a career-high tying four aces. Overall, the Cardinals served up eight aces in the match.
"Service pressure is what we've really been focusing on down the stretch and it payed off tonight," Phillips concluded. "We know we are not the best blocking team, so we have to find ways besides offense to score points. One of those ways is with our serve. Kate's four aces were huge tonight, but the service pressure from our entire team made the difference in the match."
First serve for Saturday's MAC West Division title match versus Central Michigan is set for 7 p.m. inside Worthen Arena. Ball State football fans can get into the match for free by showing their mobile ticket or ticket stub from the Cardinals 3:30 p.m. kickoff also against the Chippewas.
Central Michigan 3, Toledo 2
Box Score
TOLEDO, Ohio -- A much-needed and historic win.
The Central Michigan volleyball team came from behind to defeat Toledo in a five-set thriller on Friday to clinch a share of the Mid-American Conference West Division championship.
It is CMU's second league division title. The first came in 2003. The Chippewas are 21-6, 11-4 MAC.
"Everything we do is celebrated as an entire program," said fourth-year CMU coach Mike Gawlik. "My staff has done a really great job and we've identified players who are willing to fight.
"I got here four years ago, and we're recruiting the type of people who buy into a vision. This was a part of the vision that we had. To see that come true and to be in a position to hang something in the rafters is really great."
The Chippewas can wrap up the outright West crown and win the first MAC regular-season championship in program history with a victory on Saturday (7 p.m.) at Ball State.
"I think we have some unfinished business (Saturday) and certainly in the MAC Tournament," Gawlik said. "Right now, we can't be satisfied; we've got to get a game plan together for Ball State. They're really good, they're fighting for (league-tournament) seeding, and we play them in their home building."
Championship Implications
There is plenty riding on the CMU-Ball State match. The Cardinals are 16-11, 10-5 and can share the West crown with the Chippewas if they beat CMU on Saturday.
CMU defeated Ball State in Mount Pleasant on Oct. 11.
The Chippewas are tied with East-leading Miami (Ohio), which is also 11-4 in league play, for the best record in the MAC. The RedHawks play host to Western Michigan on Saturday. If both CMU and Miami win, they share the regular-season title.
Under that scenario, Miami would be the No. 1 seed in the league tournament because it holds the tiebreaker – head-to-head competition – over CMU. If the Chippewas win on Saturday and Miami loses, CMU is the champion.
The divisional second-place teams, Ball State (West) and Bowling Green (East) are both 10-5 in league play. The Falcons play host to Northern Illinois on Saturday.
Regardless of what happens on Saturday, the Chippewas will be one of the top-four seeds at the MAC Tournament, hosted by Bowling Green, which begins on Thursday, Nov. 21.
How It Happened
Set one went to Toledo, 25-23, before CMU took set two, 25-22. Toledo won the third set, 25-16.
Down 6-2 in the fourth set, CMU called timeout and then went on a 12-3 run to seize a 14-9 lead, which the Chippewas never relinquished, though Toledo did draw to 21-20. CMU held off the Rockets, taking the set 25-22.
CMU used that momentum to win the fifth, limiting Toledo to a .048 hitting percentage. The Chippewas hit at .214 in the fifth, their best of the evening.
Inspiration
"I felt like this was one of our bigger matches of the year," Gawlik said. "We were really gritty. We weren't playing our best volleyball. In one of our timeouts in set four, we had to make a decision on how we were going to go about it for the rest of the match.
"Are we going to go out every point and fight? Or are we going to be in a position looking up at the scoreboard feeling bad for ourselves?"
The Chippewas, obviously, chose the former. The victory was a huge morale boost for a team that had lost both its matches, both in straight sets, last weekend when it had a chance to clinch a West title share.
"I really felt this was a breakthrough moment for our group who lost a couple of matches in a row," Gawlik said. "We were in a position where we felt that something was slipping through our fingers. We decided to not feel that way, we were going to go out, grab (the win), and fight tooth and nail for every point."
Leaders
Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez led CMU in kills with 15, matching her second-highest total of the season. She finished with a .321 hitting percentage.
Maddie Whitfield added 14 kills on a team-best .407 hitting percentage, and Kalina Smith added 12 kills.
CMU setters Kendall Braate and Grace Butler combined for 46 assists. Megan Kern finished with 24 digs, and Savannah Thompson added 23.
Kent State 3, Akron 0
Box Score
KENT, Ohio – Freshman Morgan Copley and senior Ashley Makruski each hit at better than a .500 clip and combined for 24 kills to lead Kent State to a 3-0 victory (25-16, 25-21, 26-24) against rival Akron on Friday evening. In addition to securing a spot in next week's Mid-American Conference Volleyball Tournament, the victory gives the Golden Flashes a split of the season series and each team receives one half-point in the Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge standings.
Kent State (14-13, 7-8 MAC) has now won four consecutive matches inside of the M.A.C. Center and seven home matches in a row against the Zips.
The Flashes totaled 44 kills as a team. Morgan Copley led the way with 13 and just one error on 22 swings for a .545 hitting percentage. Ashley Makruski hit .562 with 11 kills and two errors on 16 attempts. Sophomore Danie Tyson added eight kills.
Redshirt sophomore Alex Haffner stuffed the stat sheet with 32 assists, eight digs, three kills and a career-high three blocks.
Sophomore Erin Gardner tallied 24 digs to anchor the defense. Freshman Savannah Matthews added nine digs.
Kent State closes the regular season on Saturday against Buffalo. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. with a Senior Night celebration to follow the match.
Ohio 3, Buffalo 0
Box ScoreATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio volleyball team (16-12, 8-7 MAC) clinched a spot in next week's MAC Tournament after earning its third-straight sweep over Buffalo (11-16, 7-8 MAC), 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-23) on Friday evening at the Convocation Center.
"It was every bit as physical as we expected it to be," head coach Deane Webb said. "Both offenses were really good tonight. All the hitters did a really good job of going around the block tonight. As the match went on, our unforced error rate went lower and lower. It was great focus and great control throughout the match."
After nine kills in the first set alone, freshman outside hitter Olivia Margolies (Galena, Ohio) led the way with 14 kills and just one error for a .464 attacking percentage. Junior opposite Maggie Nedoma (Brook Park, Ohio) had 12 kills and hit .452 after also just putting up one error. Both redshirt sophomore Dahlias Bouyer (Brownstown, Mich.) and sophomore outside hitter Lauren Park (Millersburg, Ohio) had six kills. Junior middle blocker Tia Jimerson (Sugar Hill, Ga.) had four kills.
"She (Olivia Margolies) did a great job of knowing where to place the ball based on rotation and which defender was there – following the scouting report" Webb said. "She executed (the gameplan) at a high level."
Junior setter Vera Giacomazzi (San Vendemiano, Italy) helped Ohio record 44 kills and a .337 attacking clip with 35 assists. Giacomazzi added three digs and two blocks in the win.
Junior libero Macy Reihing (Lexington, Ky.) led the way with 17 digs and OU had 44 as a team. Nedoma posted eight while senior defensive specialist Meredith Howe (Grand Rapids, Mich.) had six. Sophomore defensive specialist Emma Tupa (Brecksville, Ohio) had four scoops and Margolies had three. Ohio was outdug, 45-44.
Ohio had four team blocks, with Jimerson posting three, Giacomazzi two and Park with one.
Tupa had three service aces for Ohio while Nedoma recorded two.
Ohio will wrap up the regular season with Senior Night tomorrow. First serve against Akron is set for 5 p.m. OU will honor its five seniors, Shayla Phillip, Lizzie Stephens, Sara Januszewski, Allyson Vaughn and Meredith Howe as well as their senior manager, Cooper Hayes prior to the match.
