The story of the night was supposed to be the Ball State University women's volleyball team starting the season off with a game against a nationally-ranked opponent. Instead an injury to a key defender became the dreadful focus. After going up 1-0 on No. 19 Purdue University in the first set, the Boilermakers settled in behind a strong frontline attack. Scoring particularly well on the outside, Purdue racked up 25-19, 25-18, 25-17 win against the Cardinals.
"We didn't perform the way they did in practice," coach Dave Boos said. "Maybe the stage got to us a little bit and we weren't able to shake the nerves. Purdue is just a big, physical team and were able to stay physical."
Despite falling behind, a solid second half effort in the first set pulled the Cardinals within striking range before the Boilermakers finished off the match with a winning spurt.
Midway through the set, junior libero Alyssa Rio went down with an injury and did not return. At that point Rio had five digs and two assists. The injury thrust sophomore libero Christie Walters into a difficult situation. "We had been playing better in the second half of the first set and the start of the second set, but then Rio went down for the foreseeable future," Boos said. "Christie came in and played pretty well for us, but Rio going down had to have spooked us a bit as well." A big run led by the middle attackers pulled Ball State (0-1) within striking range yet again late in the going. Purdue (1-0), however, responded by ripping off a handful of points down the stretch to head into the locker room up two sets to none. "We had a few good performances tonight," Boos said. "It wasn't enough as they were only individual performances." Charde' Phillips led the way offensively with eight kills on 14 attacks while Waters tallied a team-high eight digs stepping in for the injured Rio. The bright point of the night came in the third set when the Cardinals stepped up their play. Going point-for-point early with the ranked Big Ten opponents, the Cardinals wrestled away the lead three times, the last time coming at 7-6. From there the Boilermakers pulled away for the victory. "Their size and skill on the outside did us in," Boos said. "Our middles scored pretty well for us, but it was their outside hitters that made the difference." For Purdue - which out-hit the Cardinals .360 to 0.71 - Carrie Gurnell had a match-high 14 kills, while Kristen Arthurs had 10 kills.
The Cardinals continue play with two matches Saturday as they take on the University of Dayton (1-0) at noon and Coastal Carolina University (0-1) at 5 p.m.
For continuing coverage, check back with bsudailynews.com, and for complete coverage of the Cardinals this weekend in the Mortar Board Tournament, read Monday's print edition of The Ball State Daily News.
BoxscorePurdue 3, Ball State 0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-17)
ATTACK (BSU PU) Kills 29 44 Errors 23 13 Total Attacks 85 86 Attack Pct .071 .360 Kills/Set 9.7 14.7 SET Assists 25 37 Attempts 84 74 Assist Pct .298 .500 Assists/Set 8.3 12.3
SERVE Aces 2 1 Errors 6 9 Attempts 56 73 Serve Pct .893 .877 Aces/Set 0.7 0.3
SERVE RECEPTIONS Errors 1 2 Errors/Set 0.3 0.7 Attempts 64 50 Reception Pct .984 .960
DEFENSE Digs 24 25 Digs/Set 8.0 8.3 BLOCKING Block Solo 1 0 Block Assist 8 12 Total Blocks 5.0 6.0 Blocks/Set 1.7 2.0 Block Errors 0 0
Ball handling errors 1 0
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