Ball State swept the Toledo Rockets in the first round of the 2024 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Volleyball Tournament, advancing to the semifinal round, where they will face the second-seeded Central Michigan Chippewas on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
The Cardinals extended their program-record consecutive road set victory to 19 in the quarterfinal win.
Set 1
The contest between the Rockets and Cardinals began with Ball State jumping to a 6-4 lead after a service ace by graduate student middle hitter Aaylinde Smith. Ball State kept pulling away from the Rockets, but a massive hit by redshirt sophomore outside hitter Anyia Kennedy put the Cardinals up 9-6.
Toledo didn’t take the 3-point deficit lightly, battling back to get the set tied up again at 10-10 after a kill by junior outside hitter Izzy Granger. Three straight attack errors by Toledo got Ball State up to another 3-point lead, 13-10.
Heading into the first timeout, Ball State remained in front with a commanding lead of 15-11.
Toledo finally snapped its scoreless streak with a light tap over the net via sophomore right side hitter Caylee Sharkey, but Ball State remained in front with a 16-12 lead.
After multiple scoring runs by the Cardinals, Toledo head coach Jason Oliver had to use back-to-back timeouts with his team down 20-13 late in the first set.
A service ace by Cardinals senior setter Megan Wielonski wrapped up the first set early for Ball State, taking a 1-0 lead with a commanding 25-16 victory.
At the end of the first set, Toledo had seven total errors—five attack errors and two service errors. The Cardinals had three service aces.
“Serving is always relevant and going to play a huge part in our game. We need to put pressure on people and keep them off the net. Toledo put a totally different lineup on the court than they have all year, and I thought we kept them a balance with our serves,” Ball State head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. “They were not able to run their offense as freely as I’m sure they would have liked, and our pressure played a huge role and will continue to do so for the rest of the tournament.”
Set 2 (Ball State up 1-0)
To begin the second set, Ball State jumped to another commanding lead of 5-1 vs the Rockets. A kill by junior opposite Madison Buckley put Ball State up 6-1 and forced a Toledo timeout just minutes into the set.
After giving up seven straight Ball State points, the Rockets went on a 3-point scoring run, capped off by a Ball State attack error.
Just when things were turning around for Toledo, Ball State went on another long scoring run, with a Toledo attack error marking four straight Cardinal points and forcing Toledo to use their second and last timeout, now down 12-4.
A dual block by Buckley and Smith sealed a double-digit set win for the Cardinals, a 25-11 final to close out the second set.
Set 3 (Ball State up 2-0)
Down 2-0 in sets, Toledo began the third set in a fury, taking a 4-3 lead after a dual block by fifth-year outside hitter Taylor Alt and redshirt freshman middle blocker Sierra Pertzborn, the Rocket’s first lead since the beginning of the second set.
Not settling down, a kill by Pertzborn extended the Toledo lead to 8-4 and forced Ball State head coach Kelli Miller Phillips to use her first timeout of the third set and the entire match.
After the timeout, Ball State battled back to tie the third set 12-12. After another service ace via junior outside hitter Katie Egenolf, Ball State took a 14-13 lead and forced a Toledo timeout.
Late in the set, Ball State took an 18-16 lead over the Rockets. Toledo used their final timeout of the third set, down 19-17 in the quarterfinals of the MAC tournament.
Down 24-20, Toledo put together two straight points to get the score within 2, down 24-22 in the final stages of the third set. Ball State came out of the timeout and sealed the three-set sweep with a kill by Buckley, advancing to the second round with a finals core of 25-22.
Cardinals freshman outside hitter Carson Tyler led the team with 12 kills.
Wielowski added an ultra-efficient 19 assists and four service aces. She moved her career total to 194 aces, breaking the previous program record of 191 set by Stacy Jordan (1982-85).
“Megan has been a phenomenal server all four years, and I am very happy for her because I know how badly she wanted the record,” Phillips said. “She serves bullets, and there have been so many times in the last couple of matches I thought one was going to go down, but someone makes a miracle save. She is one of the toughest servers I have ever seen, and obviously, it’s in the record books to show all the good things she has done with her serve.”
Alt led the Rockets in scoring with 13 kills.
