Thursday Volleyball results
Ball State 3, Central Michigan 0
Western Michigan 3, Ohio 1
Recaps courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments
Ball State 3, Central Michigan 0 | Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State women's volleyball team became the first program from the Mid-American Conference to reach 20 overall wins this season with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-18) sweep of Central Michigan Thursday evening at Worthen Arena.
It marks the 31st time the Cardinals (20-9; 16-1 MAC) have reached the 20-win mark in the storied history of the program which secured its 11th MAC regular season championship last week at Eastern Michigan.
In Thursday's victory over the Chippewas (9-20; 6-11 MAC), sophomore outside
Carson Tyler led all players with 14 kills marking the 27th time this season she has reached double figures. She also collected 10 digs for her 17th kill/dig double-double of the year, while serving up a match-high three aces.
Right behind Tyler was graduate outside
Noelle VanOort with nine kills, while sophomore opposite
Tiffany Snook and junior middle
Camryn Wise added eight apiece. Wise, the league's top attacker by percentage, also hit a match-best .385 (8-3-13).
In another solid split setting performance, junior
Lindsey Green and freshman
Reese Axness ran the Ball State offense at a .246 (47-18-118) rate of success. Green dished out a match-high 22 assists, to go along with a match-high tying 11 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. Axness added 14 assists and six digs.
Graduate opposite
Christyn Ashby led the Cardinals at the net with three total blocks, while chipping in four kills. Tyler and Wise also had a pair of blocks each, while junior middle
Gwen Crull added one and four kills.
In the Ball State backcourt, sophomore libero
Sophie Ledbetter tied for match-high honors with 11 digs and sophomore defensive specialist
Elizabeth Tabeling added nine.
For Central Michigan, Natalia Rejment and Taylor Cripe tied for team-high honors with seven kills apiece, with Cripe also tying for match-high honors with 11 digs. Overall, the Ball State defense limited CMU to a .130 (33-19-108) hitting mark, including a .083 (10-7-36) effort in the second stanza.
For the year, Ball State is 16-0 when holding the edge in attack percentage and 19-0 when holding opponents under a .249 rate of success.
The Cardinals close out the home portion of the 2025 regular season Friday, when they host Senior Night at 6 p.m. versus the Chippewas. After the conclusion of the match, Ball State will honor its seniors
Katie Egenolf, Ashby and VanOort.
Western Michigan 3, Ohio 1 | Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio – After dropping the first set, the Western Michigan volleyball team bounced back to take the next three and claim a four-set victory (11-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-15) at Ohio on Thursday night. With the win, the Broncos locked up the number two seed and a bye to the semifinals of next weekend's MAC Tournament.
FINAL SCORE: Western Michigan 3, Ohio 1
LOCATION: Convocation Center (Athens, Ohio)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (16-14, 13-4 MAC) | Ohio (13-16, 11-6)
Leah Richmond racked up 34 assists and 12 digs to collect her seventh straight and 24th overall double-double of the campaign. The redshirt freshman set up the duo of
Mary Clare Brusek and
Annalise Patchett for 11 kills apiece.
Defensively, five Broncos had eight or more digs, led by
Reeghan Boyer's 17. Richmond added 12 to the cause,
Elana Erickson and
Carley Piercefield contributed nine apiece and
Maddie Kmetz pitched in eight.
Molly Brown and
Amanda Glanton each collected a team-high five blocks.
An 11-1 surge helped Ohio charge out to a 15-4 advantage in the first set, and the home team held a double-digit lead for the remainder of the opening frame.
The Broncos tallied five straight points to grab a 7-5 edge early in the second. At 12-10, WMU notched another three in a row to increase the margin to 15-10. Ohio fought back and drew level at 18-18. Tied up again at 20-20, Western Michigan then reeled off the next five points to claim the set and even the match at 1-1.
In the third, a 7-5 Ohio edge was wiped out by a six-point run which put the Broncos ahead, 11-7. The Bobcats worked their way back to within one, 14-13, but Western Michigan responded with six in a row to stretch the lead out to 20-13. The hosts got as close as 22-18, but three final tallies put the frame away for the Brown and Gold, 25-18.
The fourth played out in similar fashion. The Bobcats held an 8-6 advantage, but WMU answered with a 9-1 surge to open up a 15-9 cushion. A 7-2 run then increased Western Michigan's lead to 10, 23-13, putting the frame beyond reach.
The Broncos and Bobcats meet again on Friday evening to close out the regular season. First serve is once again slated for 6 pm.
