After knocking off UNC-Asheville and Southern Methodist, there was just one opponent standing between Ball State and another undefeated weekend.
Ball State dispatched the College of Charleston 25-22, 16-25, 25-20 and 25-23 to extend its winning streak to nine matches.
The first set was a back and forth battle with Charleston taking several leads over the course of the set, Ball State unable to jump out ahead. Trailing 18-20, Ball State made its move.
A kill from senior Mindy Marx and service ace from sophomore Alex Fuelling tied the game, and then a spike from senior Kylee Baker and two errors from Charleston gave Ball State a 23-21 lead that it would hold on to.
Ball State came out strong to start the second set, jumping out to a 6-3 lead. It wouldn’t last as Charleston roared back and rattled off nine straight points to bring its lead to 12-6. Ball State never recovered, falling behind 10-19, and Charleston won the set off a kill from Darcy Dorton.
With the sets tied at one apiece, Ball State came out firing, taking an 8-3 lead to begin the third set. Charleston responded and stepped up its game, tying it at 17. With the set on the line, Ball State scored three straight points by Fuelling and Baker to force a Charleston timeout.
It wouldn’t be enough for the Cougars, who would only score three more points as Ball State scored five more, with Marx getting the final kill.
Marx would finish with 11 kills on the night.
With tournament title hopes on the line, Ball State jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead to open the fourth set. Charleston would cut the lead to 10-9, but Ball State would answer with a 5-0 run, with four the five points coming off of attack errors from Charleston.
The Cougars would fight back and were poised to take the lead after cutting the lead to 24-23. With the match on the line, Fuelling would deliver another kill to end the match and improve Ball State’s record to 12-3.
Fuelling finished with a team high 15 kills.
The team will see play again 7 p.m. Friday at Eastern Michigan University.
