The season has officially ended for Ball State Women’s Volleyball after the Cardinals fell to Western Michigan in straight sets in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship Final in Bowling Green, Ohio, tonight.

“Western’s a solid team,” head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. “We knew they had great ball control [and] five good attackers. I thought we were right with them in set one and then when Aniya [Kennedy] went out with an injury, that totally changed our whole entire team dynamic.”

Following Kennedy’s departure from the match, the Cardinals were forced to revert back to a 5-1 system, as opposed to the 6-2 system they had run for most of this season. The Broncos (19-12, 13-5 MAC) broke away in the latter half of the first set to win by four. Sets two and three were heavily lopsided with Western Michigan taking set two by 13 points and set three by 12.

“Flipping to the 5-1, which we haven’t used since essentially the first weekend of conference play, that made a huge difference,” Phillips said. “Just being in a totally different lineup than we have all year [was a challenge].”

The win is the Broncos’ second MAC Tournament Championship on the bounce. It’s the first time a team has had one consecutive championship since the 2010 Ohio Bobcats, who won three straight from 2008-2010.

“From the start of the season to how we finished, we had tons of growth,” Phillips said. “I’m super proud of our entire group. The selflessness, the great teammates [and] how hard they’ve worked to continue to grow. We have a lot to be proud of. Yeah, we would’ve wanted this match to end differently tonight, but when you look at the season as a whole, we had a lot of success.”

For the Cardinals (22-9, 13-5 MAC), freshman outside hitter Carson Tyler led the team with 12 kills while junior opposite hitter Madison Buckley backed up Tyler with seven.

In her final match as a Cardinal, senior setter Megan Wielonski dished out 27 assists and served Ball State’s only ace of the night.

Freshman defensive specialist Sophie Ledbetter was ever present in defense for the Cardinals, leading the way with 18 digs while Tyler racked up 13.

Despite being potentially eligible for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) Tournament, Phillips said it would not be on the cards for Ball State.

“It is not something we are going to choose to participate in just based upon our health and bodies available, unfortunately,” she said.

Wielonski, Aayinde Smith, Paige Busick and Kendall Seimet all played their final matches for Ball State tonight. Phillips highlighted their dedication to the program and its progress no matter how much time they spent in Muncie.

“All of them played such integral roles,” Phillips said. “Just being great teammates and helping to grow our team, our culture [and] our program. I just cannot say enough about the joy of getting to be alongside them and for them to be able to pick Ball State. It certainly has been a blessing to be alongside them.”

Contact Daniel Kehn with comments via email at daniel.kehn@bsu.edu or on X @daniel_kehn.

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