Last season, the Ball State University women's volleyball team was shutout by host IPFW in Fort Wayne.
Tuesday night, however, the Cardinals were able to return the favor in a 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 26-24) victory against the Mastodons at Worthen Arena.
"I don't like talking about last year a lot, so for me personally, tonight was pretty satisfying," coach Dave Boos said. "[The IPFW match] was probably the low point of the season last year - it was not a good performance by us - and tonight I thought we played pretty well."
Ball State (9-14, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) was mostly able to benefit from an outside attack led by junior middle blocker Alisha Green and junior opposite side attacker Elaina Kakatolis.
Green finished with 10 kills total on the night and a .389 attack percentage, while Kakatolis finished the night with a match-high 11 kills and a .474 hitting percentage.
For the match the Cardinals hit .271 as a team. Junior outside hitter Julie Breivogel had nine kills, while sophomore outside hitter Hannah Sullivan had eight with a .385 hitting percentage.
"I was totally impressed by the play of Hannah Sullivan tonight," Boos said. "She applied not only what we learned [in practice] but above and beyond."
Kakatolis said this week's practices paid off against IPFW.
"We've been working really hard lately in practice on different shots," she said. "I thought our outsides did really well tonight."
Defensively, Sullivan had a match-high 12 digs, while freshman middle blocker Jennifer Boyd had seven blocks.
IPFW (11-11, 6-3 Summit League) was mostly unable to find the blocking touch that brought a school-record 23 blocks in its 3-2 loss against IUPUI on Saturday.
The Mastodons had eight blocks against Ball State.
"Definitely something we've been working on is hitting high-hands and hitting shots off the hands instead of straight into their hands and getting blocked," Kakatolis said.
Sophomore outside hitter Mayara Schlindwein led the Mastodons with seven kills, while freshman outside hitter Ashley Dillion had a team-high eight digs.
The Cardinals return to MAC play this weekend when they travel to Bowling Green State University on Friday and to Miami University on Saturday.
Five things to take away1. Ball State swept IPFW 3-0 after being swept by the Mastodons last season.
2. The Cardinals were led by Elaina Kakatolis' 11 kills and Hannah Sullivan's 12 digs.
3. Ball State hit .271 for the match compared to IPFW's .117.
4. The Mastodons mustered eight blocks against the Cardinals after getting a school-record 23 blocks in their last match against IUPUI on Saturday.
5. Ball State (9-14, 4-4 MAC) returns to MAC play Friday at Bowling Green.
Click here to see a video of highlights from Ball State's 3-0 win over IPFW
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