MUNCIE, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team fell to the Mid-American Conference defending champions, Ball State University, Saturday, Oct. 1 in the second match of the series, hosted inside the Worthen Arena located in Muncie, Ind. 
 
The loss dropped Eastern Michigan's record to 1-15 overall and 0-4 in MAC play
 
Graduate student outside hitter Callie Minshew (Brandon, Miss.-Brandon-Mississippi State) finished with eight kills on the day to lead the Eagles attack. The Green and White collected 11 digs from freshman defensive specialist Emma McMahon (Monroeville, Ind.-Bellmont) to lead the team defensively.
 
How It Happened
SET 1 | The Eagles fell behind early, dropping a tough first set, 25-17. Eastern Michigan trailed by as many as nine points as Ball State grabbed the advantage for good at 3-2 in a set that was tied up two times before the Cardinals took control.
 
SET 2 | A 25-19 second-set loss put Eastern Michigan in a 2-0 deficit in the match. Eastern Michigan trailed by as many as six points as the defending league champions grabbed the advantage for good at 16-15 in a set that was knotted up eight times before the Cardinals took over in the second half of the stanza.
 
SET 3 | Despite its great efforts, Eastern couldn't prolong the match and lost in set number three. The Eagles dropped the frame, 25-16. EMU trailed by as many as nine points as BSU took hold of the advantage at 4-3 and never looked back in a set that was tied up just once.
 
Match Notes
» Outside hitter Samantha Basham (Grandville, Ohio-Newark Catholic) had a team-high two aces in the match, adding to her season total of 15. She now trails junior setter Olivia Szylar (Itasca, Ill.-Lake Park) by one who leads the Eagles in service aces with 16. Additionally, with her two aces in the loss, the Ohio native now holds 63 total career service aces and was shy just one ace of her season-high, set against the University of Toledo, Sept. 23.
» Leading the Eagles attack for the third time this season was Minshew with eight kills. Prior to this match, the Mississippi State University transfer was five kills away from reaching her 500-career kills. Now, Minshew is at 503 total.
» Eastern Michigan got a team-high 11 digs from McMahon. This was the rookie's 11th match as the team's leader in digs, and her 12th with double-digit digs.
» After recording a career-high 37 assists against the Cardinals the night before, sophomore Kendall Burk (Bloomington, Ill.-University) helped the Eagles attack with 25 assists. The Illinois native has recorded double-digit assists in 13 of the 16 total matches played in 2022 thus far.
 
Historical Notes
» Under Head Coach Darcy Dorton, the Eagles are now 1-6 against Ball State with the lone victory coming at home, March 27, 2021 when the Green and White defeated the Cardinals in five sets. The overall record between the two schools moves to 28-58, in favor of BSU.
» The three-set loss is the sixth match of the 2022 campaign decided by three sets. EMU is currently 1-5 in those three-set matches. The Eastern Michigan volleyball team has competed in 35 three-set matches in the Dorton era, with a 12-23 record.
 
Up Next
The Green and White are scheduled to host both Ohio University and Kent State University, Friday-Saturday, Oct. 7-8, inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center. Both matches will be streamed via ESPN 3 with the Ohio match beginning at 6 p.m. and the Kent State match starting at 4 p.m.