With only three games left until the Mid-American Conference tournament, the Ball State University women's volleyball team traveled to Toledo on Saturday.
After beating Akron on Thursday, the Cardinals were on a roll when they met up with the Rockets for the second time this season. This time Ball State swept the Rockets in three straight games, compared to the last time when they won in the fifth game.
"We got one of our more complete efforts of the year out of our upperclassmen and the team as a whole," coach Randy Litchfield said.
As Litchfield commented after the match against Akron, the upperclassmen are a vital part to the Cardinals' winning. In the game Saturday, Kelly Cochran stepped up to lead the team with 12 kills for the match. Cochran is now just two kills shy of becoming the third player in Ball State University history to record 1,200 kills and 1,200 digs in her career. Earlier in the season she became one of only five Cardinals to be in the 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs club. The senior is also nine games shy of busting into the top 10 of most games played with 425 games played this far in her college volleyball career.
Elaina Kakatolis had another solid performance, adding nine kills and three digs for the match.
"Well, I think that Elaina is just really evolving as a player," Angie Parrell said. "She has become a threat to the other team."
The coaches designed a new play that involves the freshmen more, and she has been stepping up to handle the pressure.
"Coach [Heidi] Zickgraf worked in a new set for Elaina," Litchfield said. "In the two matches that we've used it Eliana has had big matches."
Parrell and the rest of the offense also stepped up during the match. Parrell had 42 assists for the night and knows that without the team playing together, wins would not be possible.
"Well, I think the girls have taught me that we need everyone to do it," Parrell said.
For the last two games of the regular season the team is going to try to become more consistent and work on fine-tuning the little things.
"I think we are just trying to steadily improve," Parrell said. "[We are also working on] keeping everything positive on the court. We need everyone to be playing well [for the tournament]."
With the win, Litchfield kept his perfect record of 37-0 against Toledo. The Cardinals have won three games in a row, which tie their longest winning streak of the season. The other three-game streak was against Butler University, Toledo and the University at Buffalo.
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