Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Closes Regular Season Wednesday
September 27, 2005 | Women's Volleyball
Ball State Women's Volleyball Alabama Notes - - 394 KB
- - Ball State enters its final regular-season match with a 20-10 overall record . . . The Cardinals finished Mid-American Conference play with an 11-5 mark to earn the No. 3 seed in the 2005 MAC Tournament . . . BSU advanced to the championship round of the tournament with a 3-0 (30-27, 30-23, 3-27) quarterfinal victory over No. 6 Miami and a 3-2 (32-30, 29-31, 11-30, 30-28, 15-7) win over No. 2 Eastern Michigan in the semifinals . . . BSU fell to No. 1 Ohio - - 0-3 (24-30, 25-30, 28-30) - - in the championship match.
- - When the Cardinals open play vs. Alabama at 7p.m. Wednesday, they will open the doors to Worthen Arena with FREE ADMISSION to the match.
- - The Alabama Crimson Tide hold a 2-0 advantage in the all-time series with Ball State . . . Alabama topped the Cardinals 3-1 (24-30, 30-24, 30-27, 30-24) in the most recent meeting, Aug. 31, 2001 . . . In the first-ever meeting, Alabama scored a 2-0 (15-3, 15-11) victory on Dec. 9, 1977 . . . Both contests were on neutral courts.
- - The Cardinals enter Wednesday's contest ranked No. 60 in the latest RichKern.com/AVCA Division I Regional Computer Rankings and are still in the hunt for a NCAA Tournament at-Large bid . . . A win over Alabama - - who ranks 39th on the list - - would give the Cardinals an even better chance at a bid . . . The NCAA awards 31 automatic bids and 33 at-large bids into the tournament field of 64 . . . Ohio earned the MAC's automatic bid as the MAC Tournament Champion.
- - In addition to the RichKern.com/AVCA rankings, Ball State also ranks among the top 60 teams in the nation in the Pablo Computer Rankings, which place BSU 59th overall . . . Alabama is 60th according to the Pablo rankings.
- - Senior outside attacker Sarah Obras enters the final regular season home match of her career as the Mid-American Conference's all-time career kills leader with 1,952 . . . In addition, she holds the league's all-time attempts mark at 5,640 and ranks sixth in career digs at 1,638.
- - Junior libero Amanda McCormick enters Wednesday's match ranked fourth in the nation with a 6.31 digs-per-game average . . . In addition, her career-high 43 digs vs. No. 2 Eastern Michigan in the semifinals of the 2005 MAC Tournament currently ties as the sixth-best single-match effort in the nation this season . . . With 694 digs in 2005, she is six digs shy of becoming just the second player in MAC history to record over 700 digs in a season.
REFENES IN THE RANKINGS TOO: With an 1.48 blocks-per-game average on the year, senior middle attacker Rachel Refenes currently ranks 25th in the nation . . . The average also tops the MAC charts . . . In addition, her team-best 4.48 kills-per-game average ranks third in the league, while her .331 attack percentage is fifth in the conference . . . Refenes - - who currently ranks 12th in BSU's career charts with 319 blocks since joining the Cardinals last season - - finished the 2004 season ranked eighth in the nation with a school-record 1.67 bpg average.
COCHRAN APPROACHING ELITE COMPANY: With 33 digs during the 2005 MAC Tournament, junior outside attacker Kelly Cochran moved her career total to 981, which currently ranks 10th in school annals . . . Cochran also broke into the top 10 in career kills with 26 during the three matches, upping her career total to 933 to rank ninth in BSU history . . . In addition, she is on pace to become just the fifth player in school history to record over 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career, joining Sarah Obras (1,952 kills/1,638 digs); Megan Hammons (1,827 kills/1,204 digs); Lindsay Follin (1,495 kills/1,067 digs) and Katie Butts (1,362 kills/1,109 digs).
BSU PLACES TWO ON ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Ball State placed two players on the 2005 Mid-American Conference All-Tournament Team, marking a league-record 15-straight years a member of the program has been selected to the squad . . . This season, Sarah Obras and Amanda McCormick were selected to the team, upping the Cardinals' total number of honorees to 24 - - another league record.
SOME TOURNAMENT STATS: During the Cardinals three-day tournament run, Rachel Refenes paced the team with a 3.91 kills-per-game average, while Sarah Obras ranked second at 3.73 . . . Amanda McCormick added a team-best 7.09 digs-per-game average, while Kelly Cochran placed second with 3.00 dpg . . . Refenes led the block posting 1.18 blocks per game, while Kristin Westhof tallied 1.00 blocks per game . . . Angie Parrell posted a team-best 11.73 assists-per-game average.
THREE CARDINALS EARN ALL-MAC ACCOLADES: With Rachel Refenes earning All-Mid-American Conference first team accolades, the Cardinals have placed at least one member on the squad for a league-record 13-straight years . . . Amanda McCormick picked up All-MAC second team honors, while Sarah Obras was named to the Honorable Mention squad.
THE WORTHEN ARENA ADVANTAGE: The Ball State women's volleyball team holds a 127-9 (.934) advantage vs. teams from the Mid-American Conference in Worthen Arena . . . Miami has the most wins in the gym with four (4-11), followed by Ohio (2-8), Bowling Green (1-12), Central Michigan (1-11) and Western Michigan (1-14) . . . Akron (0-10), Buffalo (0-6), Eastern Michigan (0-16), Kent State (0-10), Northern Illinois (0-9) and Toledo (0-13) have never won in Worthen Arena . . . Marshall was 0-7 at Worthen when it was a member of the conference from 1997 to 2004 . . . BSU is 165-24 (.873) all-time at Worthen Arena.
