While most college students spent their Thanksgiving break at home carving turkeys, the Ball State women's volleyball team (25-7) stayed in Muncie carving up opponents. The Cardinals won the 2002 Mid-American Conference Tournament and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament over the holiday weekend.
This year's championship marks the sixth MAC Tournament title for Ball State, all of which have come under head coach Randy Litchfield. The 14-year coach found this year's win extra gratifying considering few people picked the Cardinals to even win the MAC West.
"This one is pretty special," Litchfield said. "It would've been foolish for me to predict this for this team. They're the ones that made a believer out of me and when it happens like that, it is pretty special."
Even through some early season struggles, the team never gave up on itself according to senior Jenna Foster.
"All year this team has worked together, played together and not given up," Foster said. "It pays off in the end. You work for this point even though you don't say you are."
Ball State kicked off its tournament run Tuesday night with a 3-0 victory over the No. 8 seed Broncos of Western Michigan. Outside attackers Katie Butts, Sarah Obras and Foster all registered double-digit kills in the match. While the Cardinals did not play their best match of the year, it was still enough to down a young and hungry WMU squad.
"I thought Western Michigan played with a lot of desire and intensity tonight," Litchfield said after the match. "This match was very indicative of how deep the MAC field is this season."
After the few days off, the team returned to Worthen Arena Friday to square off against archrival No. 4 seed Eastern Michigan in the semifinals. Behind 22 kills from Butts and tournament-record 34 digs from sophomore libero Stephanie Keller, the Cardinals flew by the Eagles 3-0. It was the third time Ball State had defeated EMU, the team picked to win the MAC West this year.
"We know when you play Eastern Michigan you better bring your energy and emotion," Litchfield said. "That's what we have done against them this year. We've matched that quality in them and thus we have been able to win."
The victory set up a Saturday championship showdown between the No. 1 Cardinals and the No. 2 Akron Zips, the only MAC school to defeat Ball State during the regular season.
In what will surely be remembered as one of the most intense matches in Worthen Arena history, the Cardinals and Zips battled through five games for over two hours. When the dust settled, Ball State was the winner of the match and the 2002 MAC Tournament.
The win was highlighted by the performance of Butts, who would later be named to the all-tournament team along with Keller and become Ball State's sixth MAC Tournament Most Valuable Player. In what was most likely the final home match of her career, the senior recorded a school and arena record 32 kills to go along with 18 digs.
"Katie absolutely carried us," Litchfield said.
Butts said the tournament championship, not the individual awards, is what meant the most to her.
"I wanted this so bad and this medal means so much more and brings so much more happiness than any individual award could every give me," Butts said.
In between Tuesday's quaterfinals and the rest of the tournament on the weekend, the MAC announced its 2002 all-conference teams and specialty awards. Four Cardinals, Butts (first team), Obras (first team), sophomore setter Stacie Baldwin (second team) and senior middle attacker Nikki Allen (honorable mention), were named to the All-MAC squads. Obras was also named to the MAC Freshman of the Year.
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