Ball State University Athletics
No. 13 Men's Volleyball Opens Season Saturday
January 16, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
BSU OPENS THE SEASON VERSUS STANFORD: The Ball State men's volleyball team opens its 46th season of competition Saturday (Jan. 17) with a 7:30 p.m. showdown versus Stanford at Worthen Arena . . . The Cardinals enter the match ranked 13th nationally, while the Cardinal are the fourth-ranked team in the nation.
MORE ON THE SHOWDOWN: Saturday's meeting of the Cardinals marks the second-straight season the teams have done battle on the volleyball court . . . Last season, Stanford rallied from two games down to score a 3-2 (28-30, 25-30, 30-22, 31-29, 15-11) home court victory over BSU (Feb. 2) . . . Overall, Stanford holds a 6-1 advantage in the all-time series . . . Ball State's lone victory, 3-0 (15-12, 16-14, 15-10), came Feb. 5, 2000, when the Cardinal last visited Worthen Arena . . . Saturday's contest will mark Stanford's third visit to Muncie, with the guest owning a 1-1 record in Worthen Arena.
TOUGH START TO THE SEASON: Saturday's match versus No. 4 Stanford marks the second-straight season the Cardinals have opened the year versus a team ranked in the top five . . . In 2008, Ball State's first three matches came versus ranked opponents as it battled No. 3 UCLA, No. 11 Hawaii and No. 4 Penn State . . . The 2009 schedule starts just as tough, as BSU will have to travel to defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Penn State for its second match of the year.
HOSTING TEAMS FROM THE MPSF: Since the 2000 season, the Cardinals are 5-1 versus teams from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation at Worthen Arena, including four-straight wins . . . Last season, the Cardinals posted back-to-back wins over No. 7 UCLA (Feb. 29 & March 1) for the first time in program history . . . In 2007, the Cardinals rallied from two games down to top No. 9 Pacific (March 24) . . . In 2002, BSU scored a home win over Long Beach State (Jan. 12) . . . In 2000, the Cardinals split a pair of matches with Cal State Northridge, winning a Feb. 11 contest, before falling Feb. 12.
SCOUTING BALL STATE: The Cardinals return 12 letterwinners, including five starters, from last season's squad which posted a 21-10 (10-2 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) record . . . Leading the way for BSU are seniors Todd Chamberlain, Ben Irwin, Matt McCarthy and Mark Termion . . . Chamberlain and McCarthy were both named to the 2009 MIVA All-Conference Preseason Team.
SCOUTING STANFORD: The Cardinal opened the 2009 season last weekend at the UC Santa Barbara/Elephant Bar Invitational . . . After entering the season ranked eighth in the preseason poll, Stanford climbed four spots in the poll after scoring wins over No. 9 BYU and No. 4 Long Beach State, before losing to No. 5 Cal State Northridge . . . Stanford also tallied a win at Pacific Wednesday to improve to 3-1 . . . The Cardinals travel to Ohio State Friday before playing at Ball State Saturday.
CARDINALS OPEN THE SEASON RANKED 13TH: After being ranked 12th in the preseason poll, the Ball State men's volleyball dropped one spot to No. 13 in the latest Bison/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . The Cardinals finished the 2008 season ranked 10th, after climbing as high as sixth in the final March poll.
GOING FOR 1,000: Ball State enters the 2009 season with a 45-year record of 997-389-8 . . . The Cardinals are three wins shy of becoming just the third athletic team in school history to eclipse the 1,000 win mark, joining baseball (1,353-1,264-14 in 88 years) and men's basketball (1,072-970-1 in 87+ years as of Jan. 10) . . . In addition, only one other NCAA Division I/II men's volleyball program has eclipsed 1,000 wins, with UCLA entering the week with a 1,172-239 record over 46+ years.
WALTON NEARING 200 WINS: BSU head coach Joel Walton enters the 2009 season with a 193-104 (.650) career coaching record . . . Walton picked up his first career head coaching victory versus Mercyhurst Jan. 17, 1999 . . . His 100th win came versus Springfield College Feb. 1, 2004 . . . In league action, Walton owns a 103-41 MIVA ledger after picking up his 100th career victory at Mercyhurst last season (March 8).
CARDINALS RETURN FOUR MIVA AWARD WINNERS: Despite losing All-American's Patrick Durbin and Ian Peckler to graduation after last season, the Ball State men's volleyball team returns four MIVA award winners from 2008 . . . Senior Matt McCarthy was an All-MIVA first team selection last season, while senior Todd Chamberlain and junior Ethan Pheister picked up second team honors . . . Rounding out the group is reigning MIVA Freshman of the Year J.D. Gasparovic.
MCCARTHY HITTING THE MARK: Matt McCarthy enters his senior season ranked third in program history with a .414 career hitting percentage . . . In addition, his .448 hitting mark his sophomore season was the second-best single-season effort in program history . . . McCarthy currently trails 2007 Ball State Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Phil Eatherton's (1994-97) mark of .422 for second on BSU's career list . . . Paul Fasshauer (1999-2002) is first at .431.
MCCARTHY CAN BLOCK TOO: In addition to being one of the top hitters in program history, senior Matt McCarthy also ranks 11th in the BSU career record books with a 1.11 blocks per game average . . . His 269 career block assists rank 15th in BSU history, while his 321 career total blocks are 19th . . . In BSU's March 1 win over UCLA last season, McCarthy tallied a career-best 13 total blocks, while adding 10 total blocks in the win at Pacific (Feb. 11).
CHAMBERLAIN GOING FOR TOP 20: After collecting a career-best 288 kills last season, senior Todd Chamberlain raised his career total to 610 . . . Chamberlain, who ranks 20th in program annals with a 2.80 kills-per-game average, needs 235 more kills to pass Lee Killian's (1980-83) career total of 844 kills for 20th on BSU's career list.
PHEISTER DISHING IT OUT: Junior setter Ethan Pheister enters the season ranked ninth in program history with 1,656 career assists . . . Pheister became the 13th player in program history to log over 1,000 career assists in BSU's win over Mercyhurst (Feb. 16, 2008) . . . He also ranks sixth in school history with a 10.62 assists-per-game average.
THE BIG BLOCK: Sophomore J.D. Gasparovic earned MIVA Freshman of the Year honors last season after ranking sixth in the nation with a 1.38 blocks-per-game average . . . In BSU's win at No. 14 George Mason (Feb. 8, 2008), Gasparovic recorded career-highs of 14 kills and 13 total blocks . . . He followed the effort with a .917 (11-0-12) attack percentage at Rutgers-Newark (Feb. 9, 2008) . . . The back-to-back efforts earned him MIVA Player of the Week accolades.
THE WEEKEND: The 2008 Ball State men's volleyball team turned in one of the most memorable weekends in program history, when the Cardinals topped UCLA on back-to-back nights at Worthen Arena . . . In addition to being the only team in program history to beat the Bruins twice, the matches drew some of the largest crowds to watch a men's volleyball match in the nation during the 2008 season, with a NCAA-best 3,572 fans at the March 1 sweep and the fourth-largest attendance of 3,429 for the Feb. 29 four-game victory.
BALL STATE ON THE RADIO: WCRD 91.3 FM will once again serve as the radio home for the Cardinals during the 2009 season . . . The student-run station is slated to broadcast all 12 Ball State men's volleyball home matches in 2009, as well as selected road matches and the entire MIVA Tournament . . . In addition, the station will serve as the home for "The Joel Walton Show", a weekly BSU men's volleyball report which airs Tuesdays from 6-7 p.m. . . . All WCRD broadcasts will be streamed live and FREE of charge at www.ballstatesports.com.
