"WMU is a scrappy team and was playing through a lot of adversity, but I thought our team maintained focus and just kept battling to finish out a really tough week," head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. "Playing three quality opponents in one week is not easy. I'm proud of how we stayed focused and kept working all week."
It was the 10th consecutive victory for the Cardinals, who became the first team in the MAC to reach 20 wins this season at 20-3. BSU improved to 10-1 in league play, trailing only an 11-0 Bowling Green squad in the MAC standings.
Ball State will host the Falcons this coming Friday for a 6:30 p.m. serve in Worthen Arena. The battle for first in the league will also serve as Alumni Night for the Cardinals. BSU women's volleyball alumni can register to join the festivities at BallStateSports.com/WVBAlumni
While it was Ball State which pulled out the sweep, it was the Broncos (14-8; 7-4 MAC) who would start out hot, pulling ahead by four at 15-11 in the opening set. The Cardinals would rally back, however, eventually tying the score at 17 thanks to a solo block by outside Jaclyn Bulmahn.
Gilliland's first kill of the match would give BSU a 21-20 edge and send setter Megan Wielonski to the service line. Four points later, the Cardinals had won the set 25-19 on Gilliland's second kill.
The second set was the closest of the match, with the teams battling to a 22-22 tie. WMU would get a kill on the next rally, but another kill from Gilliland tied the score once again at 23. After a Broncos' attack error, middle Marie Plitt sealed the set victory with a huge blast.
The third set was all Ball State, as the Cardinals scored the first two points and never trailed. The visitors from Muncie would win the set 25-17 on back-to-back kills from opposite Natalie Mitchem.
"While we started a little slow, we continued to build and get better and better as the match went on." Phillips said. "We were pretty well balanced again on offense and our defensive presence picked up as the match continued which helped us finish strong."
Led by Gilliland's career-best .818 attack percentage, the Cardinals finished the night hitting .320 (50-11-122) as a team. Mitchem led all attackers with 12 kills, while outside Natalie Risi was one behind with 11. Bulmahn joined Gilliland with nine kills, while Plitt scored five.
In addition to guiding the Ball State offense to its seventh above .300 attack percentage of the season, Wielonski scored four kills and registered her 13th double-double of the season with 39 assists and 15 digs.
Libero Maggie Huber led all defenders with 18 digs, while defensive specialist Havyn Gates added 15.
Maggie King paced the Western Michigan attack with nine kills, while Maddie Arundel and Meredith Phillips tied for team-high honors with 14 digs apiece.
Following Friday's battle with Bowling Green, the Ball State women's volleyball team will host Miami next Saturday (Oct. 30) for Chirp or Treat. The FREE community event features trick-or-treating starting at 5:30 p.m. on the Worthen Arena Concourse sponsored by the Ball State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Fans will also receive FREE admissions to the match, which starts at 6:30 p.m., by registering at BallStateSports.com/Halloween.
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Volleyball Sweeps WMU Again; Moves to 20-3 On The Year - Ball State University Athletics - BallStateSports.com
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