Ball State Women’s Volleyball (29-3, 17-1 MAC) defeated Bowling Green in five sets (22-9, 16-2 MAC) to win the Mid-American Conference Championship. To go along with the Cardinal’s nine MAC regular-season championships and 10 MAC West Division Championships, the Cardinals will be putting their eighth MAC tournament championship in the trophy cabinet.
The Cardinals claimed the MAC tournament title, defeating the Falcons by scores of 25-23, 29-31, 25-16, 21-25 and 15-7, respectively.
With the tournament title, the Cardinals have earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament — their second time in three season. This will be their 10th appearance.
It was a defining performance from junior outside hitter Natalie Risi who smashed 19 kills and had three blocks. Risi was joined in attack by graduate student outside hitter Jaclyn Bulmahn with 17 kill, junior middle blocker Marie Plitt with 16 and junior outside hitter Natalie Mitchem with 11.
The Cardinals were all over the court against the Falcons with freshman setter Megan Wielonski putting together a season-high 64 assists while Plitt tallied 7 blocks and junior defensive specialst Maggie Huber gathered 26 digs.
Ball State will be traveling to Louisville, Ky. Dec. 2 to face the University of Michigan in the round of 64 of the NCAA Championship.
Contact Daniel Kehn with comments at daniel.kehn@bsu.edu or on Twitter@daniel_kehn.
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