In a Mid-American Conference full of experienced and skilled teams, the Ball State women's volleyball team's run at conference perfection couldn't last forever.
Eastern Michigan made sure of that Saturday night, narrowly beating Ball State 3-1 (25-20, 25-23, 16-25, 28-26) to hand the Cardinals their first MAC loss of the season.
"It was a tough loss," coach Steve Shondell said. "We finished the match playing our best volleyball of the match. Unfortunately, we started slow tonight and had to play catch-up. Eastern somehow managed to get that final point on us tonight."
The loss comes one day after Ball State swept Central Michigan 3-0, leaving the team's record at 16-3 overall and 5-1 in the MAC after a 1-1 weekend.
Ball State, which had won the first game in 15 of 18 matches played this season, was quickly put in an unfamiliar 2-0 hole by Eastern Michigan to open the match.
The Cardinals struggled offensively in that span of time, with attack percentages of .128 and .125 in games one and two, respectively. Eastern Michigan senior libero Haley Stein finished with 23 digs to lead the defense.
While Ball State managed to make a comeback run with strong play in the third and fourth games, it fell just short with a 26-28 loss in the fourth frame.
"We fought back and played really good volleyball those last two games," Shondell said. "We were just disappointed the way we started the match, but give credit to Eastern. They came out after us the first two games and pretty much controlled both those games."
Shondell said mental mistakes were Ball State's biggest issue through the first two games.
"Early in the game, we made a lot of unforced errors," he said. "We were kind of our own worst enemy in those first two games, and once we got through that, we started playing the kind of volleyball we're capable of playing and that's why we put ourselves in position to almost take it into a fifth game."
Despite having its seven-match win streak snapped, several Ball State players managed to play well in both road matches.
Sophomore libero Catie Fredrich finished with a career-high 31 digs against Eastern Michigan, one week after she previously set her career-high with 30 in a win over Western Michigan.
Ball State's blocking continued to grow, as sophomores right side hitter Lauren Grant and middle blocker Mindy Marx as well as senior middle blocker Kelsey Brandl combined for 28 blocks in two matches. Grant also made a mark on offense with 12 kills in 24 attempts.
Brandl continued to build on her stellar season, finishing with a combined 20 kills and four service aces to go along with her high-efficiency blocking. She currently leads Ball State with 57 blocks this season.
With another two-match road trip approaching with Ohio on Friday and Kent State on Saturday, Ball State's first MAC loss could be a building block for better play in the upcoming weeks.
"I hope it was a real learning experience," Shondell said. "To win a conference championship, you've got to be able to play back-to-back matches. Hopefully, we can learn from this from a mental standpoint that just because we play well on Friday doesn't mean we're going to play well on Saturday. You've got to be ready to go every night."
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