Ball State University Athletics
Volleyball Heads To DePaul For Weekend Tournament
September 11, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
► BIG WEEK CONTINUES: After suffering a 3-1 home loss to IUPUI Tuesday night, the Ball State women's volleyball team returns to the road this weekend, when it heads to Chicago, Ill., for the DePaul Invitational . . . The Cardinals open play in the two-day event Friday with a 5 p.m. (CT) showdown with Denver . . . On Saturday, BSU will face host DePaul at 12:30 p.m. (CT), before ending the tournament versus Texas-San Antonio at 5 p.m. (CT).
► BALL STATE VERSUS THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Among the DePaul Invitational opponents, BSU will be facing Denver and Texas-San Antonio for the first time in women's volleyball . . . The Cardinals are 5-4 all-time versus DePaul, with a 3-0 win in the last meeting Sept. 14, 1990.
► ABOUT THE CARDINALS: The Cardinals enter Friday's showdown versus Denver with a 2-6 overall record after going 0-4 in the last five days . . . In the 2008 Ball State Active Ankle Challenge, the Cardinals suffered losses to Southern Illinois (1-3; 14-25, 19-25, 25-21, 17-25), Tennessee Tech (2-3; 19-25, 16-25, 25-21, 25-22, 13-15) and No. 18 Purdue (0-3; 14-25, 17-25, 21-25) . . . On Tuesday, BSU dropped a 1-3 (25-23, 19-25, 19-25, 20-25) decision to IUPUI in a match that was televised on the Ball State Sports Network.
► BREIVOGEL EARNS ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS: For her efforts during the Ball State Active Ankle Challenge, junior outside hitter Julie Breivogel was named to the all-tournament team . . . During the two-day event, Breivogel smashed a tournament-high 41 kills, including a tournament match-best 22 kills versus Tennessee Tech . . . Breivogel collected her sixth double-figure kill effort of the season Tuesday, with 10 markers in the loss to IUPUI.
► MORE ON BREIVOGEL: In addition to pacing all players in the Active Ankle Challenge with 41 kills, Breivogel added a team-best .267 (41-13-105) attack percentage and 21 digs in the event . . . She recorded her second double-double of the season when she added 11 digs to her 22 kills versus Tennessee Tech . . . For the season, Breivogel has smashed a team-best 99 kills for a 3.19 kills-per-set average, while hitting at a .160 clip.
► OFFENSE HEATS UP VERSUS TECH: After being limited to a .138 rate of success in losing the first two sets versus Tennessee Tech, the BSU offense came to life in the final three frames, exploding for a .437 mark . . . Utilizing its hot attacking, which included hitting over .400 in each of the final three sets, the Cardinals managed to get within two points of winning the match at 13-12 off a kill from junior middle blocker Alisha Green . . . Unfortunately, TTU rallied off the final three points to win the match . . . BSU finished the contest hitting .302, marking the second time this season the team has broken .300 . . . BSU did not break the .300 mark in 2007.
► SPEAKING OF GREEN: Junior transfer Alisha Green turned in her best performance in a Cardinals uniform versus Tennessee Tech, smashing a season-high 17 kills while racking up a BSU season-best six total blocks . . . She also finished the match hitting .343 (17-5-35) . . . In Tuesday's match versus IUPUI, Green added match-highs of 14 kills and four total blocks, while hitting for a .290 (14-5-31) rate of success.
► SCHEMBRA DIGGING IT UP: Freshman defensive specialist Kaylee Schembra became the second BSU player to break the 20-dig plateau this season, when she dug up a match-high 22 balls versus IUPUI . . . After collecting 10 digs through the first three games, Schembra replaced starting libero Alyssa Rio in the fourth set and promptly collected 12 digs in the final frame.
► FANS FLOCK TO WORTHEN: The 1,535 fans in attendance for the Ball State versus No. 18 Purdue match last Saturday night was the fifth-largest attendance for a Ball State women's volleyball match in Worthen Arena . . . As of Sept. 8, the crowd was the 34th-largest to watch a women's volleyball match in the 2008 season . . . The current Worthen Arena attendance record for women's volleyball is 1,711 set in a 1-3 loss to Pittsburgh on Sept. 2, 2002.
► McGINNIS CONTINUES STRONG PLAY: Freshman setter Brittany McGinnis continued her strong play in the Ball State Active Ankle Challenge, by helping guide the Cardinals to its second .300-plus hitting match of the season . . . McGinnis also recorded her third double-double of the season with 32 assists and a career-high tying 12 digs against Southern Illinois . . . She followed with a career-high 53 assists versus Tennessee Tech, while guiding the Cardinals to a .437 mark over the final three sets . . . She then added her fourth double-double of the year with 38 assists and 11 digs Tuesday versus IUPUI.
► CARDINALS SHOWING IMPROVEMENT: Despite its 2-6 record, the Cardinals are showing signs of improvement over the 2007 season, which saw BSU go 5-25 . . . Through its first eight matches last season, BSU was 1-7, had only won eight sets, had been swept four times and was hitting .128 as a team . . . This season, the Cardinals are 2-6, have won 12 sets, have only been swept twice and are hitting .144 as a team.
► HIGH MARKS: Ball State finished its Aug. 30 match versus Centenary with a .304 (39-11-92) hitting percentage, which is the best attacking performance for the team in the 38-match tenure of head coach Dave Boos . . . In addition, BSU limited the Ladies' offense to a -.053 (19-24-95) rate of success, which is the best defensive effort for the squad under Boos . . . The previous marks were a .211 (40-17-109) hitting performance in a three-game win over Buffalo on Sept. 29, 2007 and a -.017 (28-30-116) defensive lock down of Toledo in another three-game in victory Nov. 1, 2007.
► NOT SO SWEET HOME: The Cardinals home woes continued Tuesday with a 3-1 setback to IUPUI, which dropped BSU's record to 0-4 at Worthen Arena this season . . . Overall, BSU is 3-14 at home the last two seasons, after having never suffered a losing home season since Worthen Arena was built in 1992 . . . In 16-plus years of play in the building, the Cardinals have amassed a 176-44 (.800) record, including a 134-19 (.876) mark against MAC teams . . . Among league schools, Miami has the most wins in the arena with five (5-11), followed by Ohio (3-8), Western Michigan (3-14), Northern Illinois (2-9), Bowling Green (2-12), Central Michigan (2-12), Eastern Michigan (1-17) and Kent State (1-10) . . . Akron (0-11), Buffalo (0-8) and Toledo (0-15) have never won in Worthen Arena . . . Marshall was 0-7 at Worthen Arena when it was a member of the conference from 1997 to 2004.
► ABOUT THE PROGRAM: Ball State entered the 2008 season as the Mid-American Conference's all-time leader in league wins and league winning percentage at 267-124 (.683) . . . Western Michigan is a close second at 266-125 (.680), followed by Miami at 247-144 (.632) and Northern Illinois at 148-92 (.600) based on winning percentage.
► MORE ABOUT THE WINS: Ball State and Western Michigan are currently tied for the league lead in 20-win seasons since MAC play began in 1983 with 13 apiece . . . Overall, the Cardinals have broken the 20-win plateau a total of 22 times in the 36-year history of the program.
► LEADERS IN THE MAC: Ball State is the home of the Mid-American Conference's all-time career statistical leaders in assists, kills and digs . . . Emily Sallee finished her career with 6,408 assists from 1997-2000 . . . Stephanie Keller collected 2,273 digs from 2001-04 . . . Sarah Obras smashed 1,975 kills in her career, which spanned from 2002-05 . . . Sallee's assist total and Keller's dig total still rank in the top 10 in NCAA history.
► ACADEMIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Since 1975, Ball State players have earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors a total of eight times . . . The total currently ranks eighth in the nation, with BSU being the only Mid-American Conference school in the top 10.
► THE MEDIA: The Ball State women's volleyball team has the most comprehensive radio package in the Mid-American Conference, as WCRD 91.3 FM will once again be the radio home of the Cardinals for the 2008 season . . . The station is slated to cover 12 of the Cardinals' 13 home matches, as well as all of BSU's 2008 MAC Tournament action . . . In addition, the state-of-the-art WCRD studio will be the home of "Serving It Up" with Dave Boos, a weekly volleyball report which airs Monday nights from 6 to 7 p.m. beginning Sept. 1 . . . Fans can follow all of the action for FREE on the official home of Ball State Athletics, www.ballstatesports.com.
► MORE ABOUT THE MEDIA: The Ball State Sports Network is slated to broadcast a pair of women's volleyball home matches this season . . . The network will televise the Sept. 9 match versus IUPUI and the Nov. 15 contest against Northern Illinois . . . BSU head coach Dave Boos will also be a regular on Cardinal Talk, which is a hour-long weekly Ball State sports report which airs Thursdays from 4 to 5 p.m. on ESPN Radio AM 1340.
► BSU PICKED THIRD: BSU was selected to finish third in the MAC West Division in the league's annual preseason poll, which was voted on by the conference's 12 head coaches . . . Western Michigan was picked to win the division for a second-straight year, followed by Central Michigan and BSU . . . Behind the Cardinals were Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan and Toledo.
