Ball State University Athletics
Men's Volleyball Opens MIVA Tournament Saturday
April 19, 2006 | Men's Volleyball
2006 MIVA Tournament Notes: Ball State vs. Mercyhurst in PDF Format
THIS WEEK IN VOLLEYBALL ACTION: After finishing the regular season with a 20-6 overall record, including an 8-4 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association ledger, the No. 14 Ball State men's volleyball team opens play in the 2006 MIVA Tournament at 7 p.m. Saturday as the No. 3 seed and will host No. 6 seed Mercyhurst in quarterfinal action at Worthen Arena.
LAST TIME OUT: The Cardinals closed the regular season last Saturday with a near upset of No. 10 Penn State at Worthen Arena . . . BSU opened the match with a 30-19 game-one victory and followed with a 30-26 game-two win . . . However, the Nittany Lions came out of the break and won the final three games (30-26, 30-28, 15-11) to secure a 3-2 come-from-behind victory.
IN THE AVCA RANKINGS: Ball State enters the MIVA Tournament ranked 14th for the second-straight week in the CSTV/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . The Cardinals had attained a No. 8 ranking in the Feb. 13 poll for the team's highest ranking since March 9, 2004.
MIVA TOURNAMENT PART 1: The Cardinals enter the 2006 MIVA Tournament as the No. 3 overall seed after finishing the regular season with an 8-4 MIVA record . . . Loyola (11-1) is the No. 1 overall seed, followed by IPFW (9-3) at No. 2 . . . No. 4 Ohio State (7-5), No. 5 Quincy (3-9) and No. 6 Mercyhurst (1-11) round out the Shondell/Dunlap Division participants . . . Carthage enters the quarterfinals as the No. 8 seed after winning the Coleman Division portion of the bracket.
MIVA TOURNAMENT PART 2: Ball State enters the 2006 event with a 49-20 all-time tournament record . . . The Cardinals have won a league-best 14 tournament titles, while posting a 14-9 overall record in the final match . . . BSU's most recent tournament championship came in 2002.
TOURNAMENT ROAD: With a quarterfinal victory over No. 6 Mercyhurst, BSU would advance to Thursday's (April 27) first semifinal match and play the winner of No. 2 IPFW and No. 8 Carthage at 5 p.m. (6 p.m. Muncie Time) . . . No. 1 Loyola, the regular season MIVA Champion, receives a quarterfinal bye and will play in the other semifinal match versus the winner of No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Quincy . . . The two semifinals winners will meet in the championship match Saturday (April 29) at 4 p.m. (5 p.m. Muncie Time) . . . The championship match will be televised live on CSTV as the opening act of the network's Men's Volleyball Conference Championship triple-header.
MIVA TOURNAMENT ON WCRD RADIO: Ball State's student radio station WCRD 91.3 FM plans to carry all of BSU's MIVA Tournament matches live . . . Shane Wilkinson will provide the play-by-play action, while Zach Steinke will add the color commentary . . . To listen to the webcast, visit www.WCRD.net and click on the "Listen Now" button at the top of the page.
BSU VERSUS MERCYHURST IN 2006: The Cardinals swept the two regular season meetings with Mercyhurst in 2006, scoring a 3-0 (39-27, 30-21, 30-28) victory Feb. 11 at Worthen Arena and a 3-0 (30-25, 30-20, 30-23) victory April 8 in Erie, Pa. . . . In the two contests, Mark Termion paced the club with 15 kills and a 3.75 kills-per-game average . . . Ryan Clarke led the block, collecting seven total blocks for a 1.75 blocks-per-game average . . . Patrick Durbin recorded a team-best nine digs for a 2.25 digs-per-game average, while Dave Carlson averaged 12.00 assists per game.
BSU ALL-TIME VERSUS MERCYHURST: Including the two regular season wins, the Cardinals maintain a 21-1 advantage in the all-time series with the Lakers . . . BSU has won the last 15 meetings, as well as 45 of the last 49 (.918) games . . . BSU is 2-0 vs. Mercyhurst in MIVA Tournament action, with both wins coming at Worthen Arena . . . BSU scored a 3-1 (26-30, 31-29, 30-18, 30-22) victory over the Lakers in last season's event (April 23) and another 3-1 (30-20, 30-21, 29-31, 30-19) win in 2002 (April 20).
MEYER MIVA PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR SECOND TIME: For the second-straight week, Ball State junior outside attacker Nick Meyer has been named the MIVA Player of the Week . . . Meyer earns the honor after helping guide the Cardinals to a near upset of then-No. 10 Penn State last Saturday . . . The award is the second for Meyer this season and the third of his career . . . Meyer is the first player in school history to earn MIVA Player of the Week accolades twice in the same season, as well as just the third player in the league's top division to earn the honor in back-to-back weeks . . . In the loss to Penn State, Meyer slammed a match-high 25 kills while hitting for a .404 (25-6-47) rate of success . . . He also tallied a match-best 14 digs for his fifth double-double of the season, while adding a season-high four service aces, four block assists and a pair of assists.
BREAKING DOWN THE RECORD: After jumping out to an 11-0 start, the Cardinals posted a 9-6 record over its final 15 matches . . . Of the six losses, five have come to nationally ranked opponents - - No. 12 Ohio State (Feb. 15), No. 15 George Mason (March 3), No. 13 IPFW (March 18), No. 10 Loyola (March 24) and No. 10 Penn State (April 15) - - with the only other loss coming to IPFW the week before the Mastodons broke into the top 15 . . . On the year, the Cardinals are 2-5 vs. ranked opponents - - including wins over No. 12 Loyola (Feb. 10) and No. 14 Ohio State (April 7) . . . BSU us also 18-2 in three-game matches, 1-3 in four-game tilts and 1-1 in five-game sets.
IN THE MIVA TEAM RANKINGS: BSU enters the MIVA Tournament as the best defensive team in the MIVA statistically, topping the league in opponents hitting percentage (.181), while ranking second in digs (11.81) and blocks (2.98) . . . Offensively, the Cardinals are first in service aces (1.81), second in kills (15.22) and third in assists (14.09) and hitting percentage (.289).
IN THE MIVA INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: Individually, Ian Peckler continues to pace the league in digs per game at 2.82 . . . Nick Meyer ranks second in the MIVA in kills (4.57) and points (5.40) per game, while placing seventh in aces (0.33), ninth in digs (2.12), 10th in blocks (0.93) and 15th in attack percentage (.300) . . . Dave Carlson is third in assists (12.48) and eighth in aces (0.32), while Zoran Grabovac ranks fourth in blocks (1.33) and 13th in attacking (.305).
IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: Nick Meyer enters the week ranked in the top 20 nationally in four categories . . . He is eighth in points, ninth in kills, 19th in aces and 20th in digs . . . Two other Cardinals join Meyer in the digs category, with Ian Peckler ranking fifth and Evan Berg placing 18th (2.14) . . . Dave Carlson is 12th in assists and holds 20th in aces.
