The Ball State University women's volleyball team lost 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-20) to IUPUI Tuesday night in Worthen Arena.
The match, which was televised regionally on PBS as a Ball State Sports Network production, saw the Cardinals lose the momentum after winning the first set.
Ball State coach Dave Boos said he was disappointed by the lack of intensity put forth by his team.
"I didn't think that we played as competitively as we needed to against that team," Boos said. "IUPUI is always very competitive, always hungry to knock off Ball State, and I didn't think we brought the intensity level that we needed to in this match."
The Cardinals began the match in a first set that featured 12 ties and six lead changes. A Ball State time-out with the set tied at 23 was followed by a kill from junior middle blocker Alisha Green, and a block from junior outside hitter Julie Breivogel claimed the set for the Cardinals.
IUPUI took over in the second set by hitting a .464 attack percentage as a team. The Cardinals managed six digs in the second set after collecting 23 in the first.
"I think after the first set, we just handed the momentum over to them," sophomore outside hitter Hannah Sullivan said. "We didn't come back - we just weren't mentally prepared."
A .062 Ball State attack percentage allowed the Jaguars to pull away in the third set to win 25-19, and a -.075 effort put the match out of reach for the Cardinals in their 25-20 fourth set loss.
"Our passing wasn't perfect, so us being bad at that area carried over to other areas," Sullivan said. "We were just out of system."
Leading the way for Ball State (2-6) was Green with 14 kills. Freshman setter Brittany McGinnis recorded a double-double by collecting 38 assists and 11 digs, while Sullivan had nine kills and seven digs.
Freshman libero/defensive specialist Kaylee Schembra paced the defense with a career-high 22 digs in the match.
"[Schembra] came in and took that libero spot over in the fourth game, [and] collected 12 digs in that one game," Boos said. "She's just continually improving, and she'll definitely have a chance to contend for that [libero] spot."
In addition to Schembra, Breivogel had 19 digs and libero Alyssa Rio had 17 digs in the match
The Jaguars (6-2) were led by Lauran Thompson's 13 kills, while setter Danielle Goodnight had a double-double of her own with 32 assists and 10 digs.
"[IUPUI was] everywhere, and they were really aided by our lack of ball control," Boos said. "Our ball control was not as good as their's was, and when you don't have the ball control, it means a lot of the balls are going to obvious places. In most situations we were having a very difficult time scoring because they are such a good defensive team."
Ball State has lost its last four matches, including losing all three of its matches in the Active Ankle Challenge during the weekend. In those four matches the Cardinals have won three out of the 14 sets.
The Cardinals play next on Friday against the University of Denver (5-1) in their opening match of the DePaul Invitational.
Five things to take away1. Despite losing the match, Ball State had more digs than IUPUI, with 74 compared to the Jaguars' 71.
2. Ball State had a better attacking percentage in the first set and won. IUPUI had a better attacking percentage in the next three sets and won all three.
3. Both Ball State and IUPUI had a negative attacking percentage in the final set and less than 10 kills.
4. Ball State lost the second, third and fourth sets by at least five points.
5. IUPUI's Danielle Goodnight had a .252 attacking percentage with 32 assists. Ball State's Brittany McGinnis had 38 assists and a .297 attacking percentage.
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