With the intent on proving itself as the best team in the Mid-American Conference, the Ball State women's volleyball team ran into a roadblock Saturday night.
One night after falling short of an emotional win over Western Michigan, losing 3-2, Ball State couldn't pull together the same level of play, falling 3-0 (19-25, 24-26, 25-23) to Northern Illinois.
The two-day setback pushed Ball State (22-5, 11-3) a match behind both Western Michigan and Northern Illinois, both 23-5 and 12-2, in the MAC West standings with only two matches left before the MAC Tournament.
The Cardinals managed to boost their offensive production over their match on Friday with a final success rate of .304. Unfortunately, their defense was a letdown against one of the best attacking teams in the country.
Northern Illinois sophomore Lauren Wicinski racked up 21 kills en route to the Huskies earning a .396 attack percentage for the match. Ball State ended with more block errors (six) than total blocks (two).
Sophomore setter Brittany McGinnis, now firmly entrenched as Ball State's leader on offense with a recent injury to sophomore Jacqui Seidel, finished with 33 assists. Many of those assists went to junior outside hitter Kara Bates and sophomore outside hitter Kylee Baker, who both had a team-high 10 kills.
Ball State will end MAC play next weekend with home matches against Eastern Michigan on Thursday and Central Michigan on Saturday. Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m.
In the countdown before the MAC Tournament starting on Nov. 18, Ball State will need any momentum it can find after playing through a turbulent weekend.
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