MUNCIE, Ind. – The Ohio volleyball team (8-15, 6-5 MAC) handed Ball State (14-9, 10-1 MAC) its first conference loss of the season, winning the match 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-19) on Saturday, Oct. 25.
Ohio finished with a .406 attack percentage, 55 kills, three aces, six blocks, 53 assists and 49 digs. Ball State finished with a .141 attack percentage, 28 kills, three aces, five blocks, 28 assists and 26 digs.
Junior
Gentry Brown (Shadyside, Ohio) was Ohio's top performer of the game against Ball State. Brown recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs. She recorded a team-high 12.0 points in addition to three assists, two blocks and one ace.
Freshman
Bailey Blair (Louisville, Ky.) led Ohio's offense against Ball State. Blair recorded a .444 attack percentage with 11 kills and three errors on 18 total attacks. Blair also finished with 11.5 points, four digs and one block.
Sophomore
Bryn Janke (Westfield, Wis.) tallied a team-high 25 assists while sophomore
Lexi Grissett (Albany, Ohio) added 17 assists.
Junior
Kendall Hickey (Fishers, Ind.) also finished with a team-high 11 digs. Junior
Emily Waddell led Ohio in blocking with five block assists.
It was a relatively close first set with both teams trading points back-and-forth. Ohio pulled away slightly at the end of the set, taking a 22-19 lead. Ball State was close to tying the set several times, but the Bobcats secured the early 1-0 lead with a 25-22 win. In the first set, Ohio outperformed Ball State in kills, 20-8 but also recorded seven attack errors.
The Bobcats extended their lead to 2-0 after winning the second set 25-14. The competition was close until the teams were tied at 11-11. However, Ohio suddenly went on an 8-1 scoring run, isolating themselves from Ball State. Four-straight points by the Bobcats sealed the second set win for Ohio.
Ohio secured the 3-0 sweep over Ball State with a 25-19 win in the third set. This marked Ball State's first conference loss of the season. This win is also the Bobcats' first after four-straight losses to the Cardinals over the past four seasons.
The Bobcats will be back in action when they host Kent State on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. ET. The game will be available to watch on ESPN+.
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