MUNCIE, Ind. – The women’s volleyball team is officially the 2025 MAC Regular Season Champions and the No. 1 seed in the MAC Volleyball Championship.
While the team is on an impressive run, there are two key factors.
Sophomore hitter, Carson Tyler, and graduate student, Noelle VanOort, are both individually reaching milestones and creating a dynamic duo offensively.
Tyler is ranked first in the MAC with kills, while VanOort just secured her 2000th career kill.
With a familiar leader and a new face, Head Coach Kelli Miller Phillips takes pride in the connection and energy the two bring offensively together, on and off the court, “Carson and Noelle pairing has been really, really positive for the group. They trust each other on the court, and have a really great connection, I’d say on and off the court,” notes Phillips.
Both players are humbled they’ve been able to celebrate these victories, but if you ask them what it means to them, they will tell you they couldn’t do it without their teammates standing behind them.
“My teammates have played a huge role in my success this year and I feel like everyone every single day is inside the gym to make each other better,” Carson says. And as for VanOort, she couldn’t have made a mark of 2000 without the ones passing the ball. “That’s just a lot of time somebody has passed the ball, set the ball, and I just happen to be the one that gets that set,” she notes, humbled.
Tyler and VanOort share a lot of the same mindsets when it comes to their success. Both hitters have a goal of taking things day by day and only focusing on the present blessing of being with their teammates instead of what’s ahead.
Coach Phillips is always focused on what’s up next for the Cardinals, and it’s looking to be a MAC championship.
Contact Emma Deaton with comments at emma.deaton@bsu.edu
