USI falters against Ball State and Chicago State at Indiana Invitational

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Volleyball (2-7) concluded the Indiana Invitational with two matches at Wilkinson Hall against Ball State University and Chicago State University. USI dropped the morning match against the Cardinals (23-25, 17-25, 17-25) in three sets. The Screaming Eagles concluded their weekend with a narrow loss against Chicago State (17-25, 21-25, 25-21, 18-25) in four hard-fought sets.
 
After tallying 26 assists against Ball State, senior Carly Sobieralski (Indianapolis, Indiana) surpassed 2,000 career assists. She becomes the ninth Eagle to accomplish this incredible achievement. 1,400 of those assists have occurred in 2023 and 2024 as Sobieralski continues to improve.
 
Head coach Jeffrey Aucoin and assistant coach Julianna Cramer matched up with their former school on Saturday morning. Aucoin played for the Cardinals in 2013 before starting his coaching career. Cramer also competed for Ball State in 2022, along with a year stint as the Cardinals Director of Operations in 2023.
 
Vs. Ball State
The Eagles mounted a late six-point comeback but fell short in a nail-bitter first set, 23-25. Junior Bianca Anderson (Chicago Heights, Illinois) carried her strong Friday night into Saturday with three straight kills to mount an 8-6 lead. Sobieralski tallied a monstrous 11 assists, but still found themselves down 16-21. Next, USI exploded for a 6-0 run taking advantage of four Cardinals errors. However, Ball State finished the set on a 4-1 run…