MUNCIE, Ind. – The Western Michigan volleyball team opened up Mid-American Conference play with a 3-0 loss (25-17, 25-20, 25-19) at Ball State on Friday evening.
FINAL SCORE: Ball State 3, Western Michigan 0
LOCATION: Worthen Arena (Muncie, Ind.)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (8-4, 0-1 MAC) | Ball State (10-2, 1-0)
Six different Broncos recorded five or more kills, led by
Mia Jurkovic's eight.
Leah Richmond nearly posted her third straight double-double with 26 assists and eight digs.
Carley Piercefield paced WMU in digs for the night with 16, her third consecutive contest with 15 or more.
Ball State built a 10-5 advantage in the early stages of the first set. Western Michigan came back with six of the next seven to even things up at 11-11. Tied again at 12-12, the Cardinals used a 6-1 burst to get their lead back to five, 18-13. The Broncos trimmed the gap to 18-15 before a 7-2 surge closed out the opening stanza for BSU.
WMU held a 12-10 edge in the second set until the Cardinals put together a 7-2 run to move ahead, 17-14. The Brown and Gold ran off four in a row to briefly regain the lead, 18-17, but Ball State came right back with six straight on the way to taking the frame, 25-20.
The Cardinals led for much of the third set as well, and used a 6-2 run to extend their lead to 16-10. At 22-15, Western Michigan reeled off four in a row to close the gap to 22-19, but the final three points of the night went to Ball State to put the match away.
The Broncos and Cardinals face off again on Saturday to wrap up the first weekend of MAC play. First serve is slated for 4 pm on
ESPN+.
