Three seniors ended their volleyball careers at Ball State this past weekend when the team lost to Marshall in the Mid-American Conference semifinals.
The team will lose Stacie Baldwin, Melissa Oliver and Stephanie Keller, all of which head coach Randy Litchfield said had terrific volleyball careers.
The loss also ended a 12-year stretch that Keller and Baldwin played together. Both of them led Yorktown to its first-ever Indiana Class 3A State Championship.
Unlike Keller and Baldwin, Oliver has not been able to have the same success throughout her career because of a shoulder injury.
"It's really sad that Melissa has spent the better part of two years with a banged up shoulder," Litchfield said. "Even in spite of that, she played through a lot of pain and put up some really big numbers for somebody that's been hurt a lot."
Oliver played just 261 games and 85 matches throughout her career, compiling 467 kills with a .217 hitting percentage. On the defensive side she finished with 33 solo blocks and 195 block assists.
Baldwin finished her career with the second most assists (4,408) in school history.
"Stacie has been I think the best pure setter that our program has ever had," Litchfield said. " I think her legacy is going to be shown through the play of Angie Parrell.
"I think Stacie has done amazing things for Angie. When I'm hard on Angie, Stacie is Angie's coach and that's why Stacie, I think, will be a phenomenal coach and will be able to coach at whatever level she wants to coach at."
Keller ended her career as Ball State's and the MAC's all-time leader in digs and was 18 short of having the second best total in the NCAA.
"Stephanie Keller I think is the biggest playmaker at any position of anyone I've ever coached," Litchfield said. "That's an amazing statement to make from somebody who plays only in the back court."
Keller played in all but two of Ball State's 472 games and every one of the Cardinals' 127 matches.
"She impacts matches just on a nightly basis and carries much of the emotional and mental load for this team," he said.
One such night was this season when Keller recorded 49 digs against Eastern Michigan at home, setting a Worthen Arena record, MAC record and breaking her previous high of 46.
"She's going to be an exhausted girl when her career ends here in the near future," Litchfield said before this past weekend.
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