Purdue Fort Wayne
5-6
Ball State
8-1
McGill Sets Dig Record as ‘Dons Fall in Five-Set Thriller
9/14/2010 9:43:01 PM | Women's Volleyball
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Fort Wayne, IN – IPFW sophomore Tessa McGill set a new IPFW single-match record with 47 digs, as the Mastodons fell in a five-set thriller to the Cardinals of Ball State University on Tuesday evening by scores of 25-21, 23-25, 25-20, 22-25, 15-12.
McGill's total is four better than the 43 put up by Jamie Schwartz last season against Oakland. The 47 is also the second highest ever by a Summit League individual, behind only the 54 put up by Becky Dreher of Oral Roberts in 2004, and are 11 more than the previous single season best in the conference this season.
Maya Schlindwein led IPFW with 16 kills, while Stephanie Lamberti had nine with a career-high 24 digs. Taryn Parker had seven kills to go along with eight blocks, while Haley Emenhiser had seven kills and three blocks. Megan Steenhuysen, coming off of an MVP performance at the Bowling Green Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational, dished out 43 assists and had 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the young season.
Ball State (8-1) started off the match with back-to-back kills from Kelsey Brandl, two of her match-high 20, and would not trail until the Mastodons used a 7-0 run to turn a 6-4 deficit into an 11-6 advantage. Ball State responded with a 5-0 run of their own, and it was a nip-and-tuck battle from there. The two teams found themselves tied at 21, before the Cardinals took the final four points of the frame to secure a 25-21 opening-set win.
The Mastodons (5-6) found themselves in a tight battle in the second set, as the hosts were trailing 10-8 before four straight IPFW points put the 'Dons ahead 12-10. The lead went back and forth two more times from there, and as the teams were tied at 18, IPFW rattled off three straight, and finished the set with a kill from Emenhiser to win the second set 25-23.
It was IPFW who dominated coming out of the ten minute intermission, as the 'Dons led by as many as three at 8-5, before Ball State put in a surge, scoring five of the next six points to lead 12-9. The Cardinals would not give up that lead, despite IPFW tying the match at 15. With the teams deadlocked at 15, Ball State went on a 7-1 run to lead 22-16. The Blue and White would only close the gap to as few as three, as BSU took the third 25-20.
Behind an excited home crowd, IPFW ran out to a quick 4-0 lead and never trailed for the set. Ball State twice tied the set, at 12-12 and 13-13, before the Mastodons used a pair of 4-0 runs to lead by six at 24-18. The scrappy Cardinals squad would not give up, scoring five straight to cut the deficit to a pair at 24-22, but a Lamberti kill ended the threat, sending the match into a fifth and deciding set.
The fifth set started as a back-and-forth battle, with the Mastodons using a 3-0 run to lead 4-3 early in the frame, before Ball State scored five of the next six points to lead by four at 10-6. IPFW cut the deficit to as few as one at 12-11 on a combo block from Schlindwein and Alli Hook, but the Cardinals were too strong down the stretch, pulling away for a 15-12 fifth-set win.
Ball State was led by a match-high 20 kills from Brandl, as Kylee Baker added 18 and Whitney Heeres a dozen. Brittany McGinnis and Jacqui Seidel shared setter duties, with McGinnis picking up 30 assists to 26 by Seidel. Catie Fredrich and Alyssa Rio had 27 and 26 digs, each, as Seidel added a team-best four blocks in the win.
The Mastodons next take to the road for a pair of conference matches, with the opener of the trip coming on Friday, September 17, as the 'Dons travel to Macomb, Illinois to take on the Leathernecks of Western Illinois University at 8:00 PM EST.
~Dons~
