'We're not done yet': Ball State women's volleyball clinches MAC Championship, NCAA Tournament berth
MUNCIE, Ind. — It was a fitting, the way Ball State won the 2021 Mid-American Conference Women's Volleyball Championship.
The match, which featured the No. 1-ranked Cardinals (29-3, 17-1 MAC) and the No. 2-ranked Bowling Green Falcons (21-9, 16-2 MAC), went the distance because of course it would. After dropping the fourth set, Ball State controlled the fifth set and put an end to the back-and-forth match.
Thousands of fans inside Worthen Arena got on their feet as junior middle blocker Marie Plitt cracked a smile as she walked out with her teammates past head coach Kelli Miller Phillips, who remained as even-keeled as she had all match.
►From Monday: Ball State women's volleyball beats Western Michigan, advances to MAC Championship
Tied 2-2, junior outside hitter Natalie Risi slammed a kill from the left side. The next point came from junior outside hitter Natalie Mitchem on the right. After a Bowling Green timeout, there were a few kills from Plitt, an ace from senior defensive specialist Cathryn Starck and a trio of kills from graduate outside hitter Jaclyn Bulmahn.
Before you knew it, Ball State's bench was storming the court after the Cardinals secured a 3-2 (25-23, 29-31, 25-16, 21-25, 15-7) victory over the Falcons. It wasn't until her players were mobbing each other on the floor until Miller Phillips let out a deep exhale.
For the second time in three seasons, Ball State is headed to the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament.
"The fifth set was, you could just feel the momentum building and you just felt like, ‘OK, this is ours,'" Miller Phillips said. "We just had that emotion and that’s just one of those things where we’re in our flow, we just know what we’re capable of. Set five, we were just completely in our flow and that means everybody’s a part of that. ... I think that’s what made set five so special, it was who we had been all year when we had been in rhythm and it just felt like 'this is our match' that whole fifth set and we executed and finished.”
A championship match between the league's top-two teams went about as one would've expected it to.
Ball State got off to a hot start in the first set, never trailing en route to a 25-23 victory. In the second set, the two squads went back-and-forth, exchanging set points until the Falcons pulled away with the 31-29 victory.
In set three, Ball State cruised to a 25-16 win to take a 2-1 advantage. In set four, Bowling Green never trailed and tied the match up, 2-2, with a 25-21 win.
But this Ball State team women's volleyball team isn't accustomed to losing. Coming into Wednesday night, the Cardinals had lost just three matches all season, were riding a 19-game winning streak and were a perfect 12-0 at home. And every time the Cardinals dropped a set Wednesday, it responded by winning another.
"Yeah, (we) definitely don’t like losing so that motivates us a little bit," Plitt said. "And we knew we wanted to get this championship so we just did whatever we could to get there.”
With the five-set victory, Ball State clinched the eighth MAC Tournament title in program history. Prior to 2019, it had been 17 years since the Cardinals had won a MAC Tournament.
Since last year's 9-12 conference-only season ended, this had been the goal for Ball State. The team welcomed in a handful of transfers and had players who also played on the 2019 MAC Championship team.
►Earlier coverage: Balance leads Ball State women's volleyball to 1st MAC regular season title since 2010
►Earlier coverage: Ball State women's volleyball is rolling, aiming to reach the NCAA Tournament
From the get-go, Miller Phillips knew this team could be special. Ball State opened up the season 7-0 but began conference play with a 3-2 loss to Kent State in a match it led 2-0. The conference loss was on Sept. 24, two months before the MAC Championship in Muncie.
Since that defeat, Ball State hasn't lost a match. Wednesday makes it 19 wins-in-a-row, and counting.
"It's really just everybody on the team," Risi said when asked what's led to the success this season. "In practice, the people who maybe don't show it one the court are the ones that push us every single day to make us better and just trusting each other and having each other's back."
Risi, who was named the MAC Tournament MVP, led Ball State with 19 kills and 13 digs. Plitt (16 kills, eight digs, seven blocks) and freshman setter Megan Wielonski (64 assists, 20 digs) were also named to the All-MAC Tournament team. Bulmahn (17 kills), Mitchem (11 kills), junior defensive specialist Maggie Huber (26 digs) and junior defensive specialist Havyn Gates (19 digs) all helped lead the Cardinals to the victory, as well.
It was another all-around team performance that led to Ball State to a five-set victory in the most important match it had played to date. Utilizing a variety of weapons is how the Cardinals got here, so why would the strategy change Wednesday?
"That’s kind of just who we are, you know, anyone on this roster I can count on to go in in a crucial moment and take a big swing and get a kill," Wielonski said. "I think that is what makes our team so unique and I have trust and faith in each and every one of them to go out there and kill it and they definitely showed that tonight.”
With the win, Ball State — ranked No. 32 in the latest RPI rankings — won't have to wonder if it has a resume good enough to get an at-large bid into the tournament. Instead, the Cardinals will be able to relax Sunday, Nov. 28 during the NCAA Selection Show and see who lies next on their schedule.
"You just are working and working day in and day out and you taste it, it’s so close and you’re coming into this match and to be able to play in the NCAA Tournament again, it’s going to be an awesome feeling," Miller Phillips said. "This group, they have worked really, really hard to put themselves in this position.
"We’re excited. We’re ready for it. We’re not done yet.”
Robby General covers Ball State and East Central Indiana high school athletics for The Star Press. Contact him via email at rgeneral@gannett.com, on Twitter @rgeneraljr or phone at 765-283-8864.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ball State women's volleyball wins MAC, will play in NCAA Tournament
