Women's Volleyball

Bobcats Win Battle of the Bricks; Cardinals Move to 7-0 in #MACtion Play

Saturday Volleyball results
Ball State 3, Toledo 1
Central Michigan 3, Buffalo 0
Ohio 3, Miami 1
 
Recaps courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments

Ball State 3, Toledo 1 | Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. - - For the second straight outing, the Ball State women's volleyball offense shined against the league's top defense, connecting for a .308 (52-11-133) attack percentage for a 3-1 (25-16, 19-25, 25-12, 25-19) victory over Toledo Saturday afternoon in Worthen Arena.

With the win, the Cardinals improve to 7-0 in Mid-American Conference play and run its overall record to 11-8. Like Friday night's thriller, the Rockets (14-5; 5-2 MAC) had a tough time slowing the MAC's top offense despite entering the weekend with the league's lowest attack percentage against at .133.

Leading the charge for Ball State were the outside duo of sophomore Carson Tyler and graduate Noelle VanOort. One night after registering a career-high 29 kills versus UT, Tyler smashed a match-best 17 kills to run her string of consecutive matches in double figures to 25, including all 19 this season and the last six a year ago. Tyler also put together a string of three straight service aces in the opening set, while finishing with a match-high four.

VanOort reached double-digit kills for the 15th time this season, while also hitting .325 (15-2-40) for the match. Junior middle Camryn Wise was just shy of double-digits, smashing nine kills and hitting a team-best .450 (9-0-20). She was also credited with a match-high seven total blocks to help the Cardinals hold a 14.0 to 4.0 advantage for the contest.

The 14.0 total blocks were the most for the Cardinals in a match this season and included six from junior middle Gwen Crull and a Ball State career-high five from graduate opposite Christyn Ashby. Also adding to the blocking tally were Tyler and sophomore opposite Tiffany Snook with three apiece and VanOort with one.

Guiding the Cardinals offense were the setter duo of junior Lindsey Green and freshman Reese Axness who dished out 23 assists apiece. Green would also finish the day with six digs, while Anxess collected five.

Leading the Ball State backcourt was sophomore libero Sophie Ledbetter with a match-high 21 digs. Sophomore defensive specialist Elizabeth Tabeling also added 12. Their effort helped the Cardinals hold a 67 to 57 edge in total digs, while the combined play on defense limited Toledo to a .178 (54-27-152) hitting mark.

Olivia Heitkamp led a trio of Rockets in double figures with 13 kills, while Grace Freiberger secured a team-high 13 digs. UT's Kelsey Smith led all players with 45 assists.

The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to action Thursday, when it travels to Bowling Green for a 6 p.m. first serve versus the defending MAC regular season champion Falcons. BGSU enters the match with a 12-7 (6-1 MAC) record, with its only league loss coming to Toledo this past Tuesday.


Central Michigan 3, Buffalo 0 | Box Score
BUFFALO, N.Y. – A full team effort gave CMU Volleyball team their fifth win of the season, and their second in Mid-American Conference play with a sweep over Buffalo.

The two teams faced off on Friday night and CMU dropped a four-set match to the Bull but rallied on Saturday to sweep their MAC foe.

Natalia Rejment recorded her second double-double in as many games with a 12 kill 12 dig afternoon.

Rainey Weidman made her first start at the libero position as CMU ran both Weidman and Hannah Langton ran a double libero system for the match.

In the first set, CMU jumped out to a 5-1 lead, but Buffalo fought back to tie the set at 5.

Buffalo was forced to take a timeout late in the first set as CMU had a 20-18 lead.

The first set again went to extra points, mirroring the first set on Friday night, this time in favor the Chippewas. A 26-24 win started the match with a victory.

In set two, Buffalo jumped out to a 5-1 lead, but CMU battled back to tie the set at five. After a 17-13 lead, Buffalo called a timeout, and again at 23-17 in favor of the Chippewas.

In the second set, CMU out-blocked the Bulls 6-0 and ran away with a 25-22 win in the second set. The Chippewas held Buffalo to a .056 hitting percentage in the set.

Set three was all Chippewas – from the get-go. A 20-15 lead caused a Buffalo timeout, and Central Michigan closed the set out with a block – their ninth of the match.

With the 25-17 win in the third set, the Chippewas collected their fifth win of the year, and their fourth sweep of the 2025 season.

The offense for CMU was led by Natalia Rejment, who recorded her second straight double-double with 12 kills and 12 digs. Taylor Cripe had 11 kills in her return to the floor after a two-match hiatus. As a team, Central Michigan hit .274 and held the Bulls to .078 – the second lowest for an opponent this season.

Central Michigan combined for nine blocks as a team, Brooklyn Conner had three solo blocks, and Grace Thomas recorded two.

Next, the Chippewas will host Akron in McGuirk Arena on October 17th for a two-match series on Friday and Saturday. First serve will be at 6 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. on Saturday.


Ohio 3, Miami 1 | Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio volleyball team (5-14, 3-4 MAC) earned the Battle of the Bricks victory with a 3-1 win (25-16, 25-27, 25-17, 25-17) over Miami (9-10, 3-4 MAC) on Saturday, Oct. 11.
 
Ohio finished with a .272 attack percentage, 60 kills, six aces, 12 blocks, 55 assists and 64 digs. Miami finished with a .112 attack percentage, 40 kills, three aces, six blocks, 38 assists and 57 digs.
 
Senior Kendall White (Gahanna, Ohio) was a vital player for Ohio both offensively and defensively. White recorded a double-double, finishing with a team-high 48 assists and 19 digs.
 
Junior Gentry Brown led Ohio's offense with a team-high 15 kills and 19.0 points. Freshman Bailey Blair tallied 14 kills and junior Torre Kildow added 12 kills.
 
In addition to eight kills and 11.0 points, junior Emily Waddell led the team in blocking with six block assists. Brown and sophomore Sierra Evans recorded four block assists each.
 
Freshman Mady Long and junior Caroline Curran tallied a combined 23 digs.
  
The Bobcats will be back in action when they host Eastern Michigan on Thursday, Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. ET.