Winning and losing streaks occur in any season and aren't anything to be concerned with. However, when a team starts losing matches the same way each time, a disturbing trend is being set.
For the Ball State University women's volleyball team (8-9, 1-3), the last three matches have set such a trend for coach Dave Boos. In all three matches, the Cardinals jumped out to an early lead by winning the first set before dropping the match.
This time around, Ball State won the first set on the road at Eastern Michigan University (3-16, 2-2), 25-23, before dropping the next three sets 25-17, 25-20, 25-23.
"This weekend didn't go the way we planned, but there are a lot of things we can learn from it," sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Brandl said. "We saw this weekend that everyone can pick it up so we will have to next weekend."
Senior outside hitter Alisha Green once again led the Cardinals offensively with 14 kills, and her front line partner Brandl tallied a career-high 13 kills on the night.
In her return to the front line, junior outside hitter Hannah Sullivan had a tough night. Sullivan tallied two kills and five errors en route to a negative hitting percentage. Sophomore Jennifer Boyd produced nine kills as she regained playing time along the deep front line.
A challenge for Sullivan and the front line players was the blocking of Eastern Michigan. Eastern Michigan recorded 11.5 total blocks and 23 assisted blocks, making it difficult for Ball State to kill the ball. In turn, the Cardinals struggled blocking, registering only five total blocks and eight block assists.
Defensively, Ball State was led by junior Alyssa Rio and sophomore Kaylee Schembra. The duo combined for 37 digs. Rio returned to the starting libero position for the first time since the season opener where she suffered a hamstring injury that kept her out for four weeks. Both sophomore Christie Waters and junior Karin Caudill also saw action in the back row on the night.
"This is really frustrating, but you just can't let it get to you," Brandl said. "You can be really good one day and struggle the next. That's volleyball. Tonight we didn't show up. We have to show up every night and push through this."
After routing Central Michigan University 25-9 Friday night, Ball State struggled to hold off their charge. A hard-fought second set was awarded to the Cardinals after having gone to extra points, 27-25.
In a direct about-face, Central Michigan rallied to win the next three sets to take the match 3-2. The Chippewas won 25-21, 25-23, 15-12.
"We started off energized and ready to play. We made almost every play that we could make and that says something about your ability to play on a high level doing that in someone's house like Central Michigan who always plays well at home," Boos said. "The story for the rest of the night was not making plays when we needed to make to win. We were on door step in sets two, three and four to finish them off, but weren't able to make it happen."
Boos was unavailable for comment following the Eastern Michigan match.
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