Bucs open SoCon play next week

BOWLING, GREEN, Ky. (Sept. 16, 2023) – The ETSU volleyball team fell in three sets (25-17, 26-24, 25-13) to Ball State on Saturday in its final non-conference match of the season. 

Stat Standouts – Whitley Rammel (Ft. Recovery, Ohio) paced the Buc offense on Saturday with a season-high 10 kills. Malgorzata Andersohn (Bydgoszcz, Poland) set up Rammel and the rest of the ETSU offense with 30 assists to go with eight digs. Jasmal Cruz (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) led the ETSU defense with a team-high 16 digs for her sixth double-digit dig performance of the season. 

Set 1 – ETSU and Ball State traded the first 14 points of the match. The Cardinals, however, reeled off a 5-0 run to gain some separation from the Bucs, 12-7. Ball State, which hit a match-high .387 on 31 attempts, went on to take the opening stanza by a score of 25-17. 

Set 2 – The Buccaneer offense started to click in the second frame. ETSU collected 16 kills and Brianna Cantrell (Appleton, Wis.) accounted for six of those 16 kills. The second set went down to the wire. The score was tied at 21, 22, 23 and 24. Unfortunately for ETSU, the Cardinals scored the next two points to claim the frame, 26-24. 

Set 3 – Riding the wave of momentum from winning the first two sets, the Cardinals jumped on ETSU early. Ball State scored 12 of the first 16 points in the third to get out to an early lead. The eight-point deficit proved too large for ETSU to overcome as the Cardinals finished off the three-set sweep, 25-13. 

Next Up – The Bucs will open Southern Conference play next Thursday when they visit Western Carolina. First serve between the Bucs and Catamounts is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

For more information on Buccaneer volleyball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the volleyball tab.