Ball State University Athletics
No. 13 Men's Volleyball Hits The Road This Weekend
January 20, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
BSU HITS THE ROAD: The Ball State men's volleyball team will hit the road for the first time this season, when it travels to Penn State Friday and St. Francis Saturday . . . Both matches are slated for 7 p.m. starts.
VERSUS NO. 1: Friday's match versus defending national champion and top-ranked Penn State marks the second straight season the Cardinals have faced the nation's No. 1 team . . . Last season, BSU suffered a 3-0 (30-26, 30-22, 30-17) setback March 29 at No. 1 Penn State . . . Prior to last season, the last time Ball State faced a No. 1 team was Jan. 17, 2003 when it lost 3-0 (31-29, 30-28, 30-25) at No. 1 Hawaii.
BALL STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Penn State holds a 57-20 lead in the all-time series with the Cardinals, including wins in the last six meetings . . . BSU's last victory over the Nittany Lions came Jan. 14, 2006, when the Cardinals scored a 3-0 (32-30, 30-28, 30-28) win in Rec Hall's South Gym . . . Ball State holds a 5-2 advantage in matches against St. Francis, including a pair of wins last season . . . In 2007, the Red Flash swept the season series with BSU to score their only wins in the series.
SCOUTING BALL STATE: The Cardinals enter the week ranked 13th in the nation with a 0-1 record after falling to No. 4 Stanford Friday night at Worthen Arena . . . In the loss, senior Todd Chamberlain racked up a career-high tying 20 kills while hitting for a .410 (20-4-39) rate of success . . . J.D. Gasparovic ranked second on the team with seven kills, while adding four blocks . . . Sophomore transfer Andy Nelson led all players in the contest with seven total blocks (two solo and five assists).
SCOUTING PENN STATE: The Nittany Lions enter the week ranked first in the nation with a 3-0 record . . . PSU was idle last week, after winning the 2009 Outrigger Hotels Invitational to open the season . . . Ryan Sweitzer leads the PSU attack with a 3.92 kills-per-game average, while hitting .247 . . . Max Holt leads the team with a .472 attack percentage, while all of PSU's attackers are hitting .247-or-better . . . Penn State is hitting .357 as a team, while limiting its opponents to a .198 mark.
SCOUTING ST. FRANCIS: The Red Flash enter the week with a 2-0 record . . . Jordan Varee is St. Francis' top attacker, averaging 5.17 kills per game, while hitting for a .431 rate of success . . . Pete Freyer leads the team with a .522 attack percentage and a 1.83 block-per-game average . . . As a team, St. Francis is hitting .304, while limiting its opponents to a .000 mark.
CARDINALS RANKED 13TH: For the second consecutive week, the Ball State men's volleyball team is ranked 13th in the nation according to the latest Bison/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . BSU was ranked 12th in the preseason poll . . . The Cardinals finished the 2008 season ranked 10th, after climbing as high as sixth in the final March poll.
GOING FOR 1,000: The Ball State men's volleyball team enters the week with an all-time record of 997-390-8 . . . 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 (1,072-971-1 in 87+ years as of Jan. 17) . . . 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 week with a 193-105 (.648) 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).
CHAMBERLAIN OPENS SEASON STRONG: Preseason All-MIVA selection Todd Chamberlain turned in one of the top performances of his career versus No. 4 Stanford, racking up a career-high tying 20 kills and hitting .410 (20-4-39) in just three games . . . He also added three block assists in the game, while posting a match-best 21.5 points . . . The 20 kills tie as the sixth-best effort for a three-game match in BSU annals during the rally scoring era.
CHAMBERLAIN GOING FOR TOP 20: After collecting a career-high tying 20 kills versus No. 4 Stanford, senior Todd Chamberlain raised his career kill total to 630 . . . Chamberlain, who now ranks 16th in program annals with a 2.85 career kills-per-game average, needs 215 more kills to pass Lee Killian's (1980-83) career total of 844 kills for 20th on BSU's career list.
NELSON MAKES HIS MARK: After playing two seasons of club volleyball at Minnesota, sophomore transfer Andy Nelson earned his first career Division I start in BSU's season-opener versus No. 4 Stanford . . . Playing for the injured Matt McCarthy, Nelson racked up a match-best seven total blocks, including a pair of solo stuffs . . . He also added four kills, a service ace and a dig.
SPEAKING OF FIRST-TIME STARTERS: Redshirt freshman Dominic Spadavecchio also earned his first career start versus the Cardinal, racking up career-highs of five digs, four kills and a block assist.
PHEISTER DISHING IT OUT: After handing out 36 assists versus No. 4 Stanford, junior setter Ethan Pheister enters the week ranked ninth in program history with 1,692 career assists . . . Pheister, who became the 13th player in program history to log over 1,000 career assists in BSU's win over Mercyhurst (Feb. 16, 2008), needs just five more assists to pass John Badami (1985-86) for eighth on BSU's all-time list . . . In addition, Pheister currently ranks sixth in program history with a 10.64 career assists-per-game average.
THE BIG BLOCK: The Ball State defense posted a combined 12.0 blocks in last Saturday's loss versus No. 4 Stanford . . . In addition to a match-high seven total blocks from sophomore transfer Andy Nelson, sophomore J.D. Gasparovic added four total blocks, while junior Ethan Pheister and senior Todd Chamberlain tallied three apiece . . . Last season, BSU only scored 10 total team blocks in a five-game loss at Stanford.
MCCARTHY HITTING THE MARK: Matt McCarthy, who did not play versus No. 4 Stanford due to injury, entered 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: Senior Matt McCarthy also ranks 11th in the Ball State 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 the Cardinals' March 1, 2008 win over No. 3 UCLA, McCarthy tallied a career-best 13 total blocks, while adding 10 total blocks in the win at Pacific (Feb. 11, 2008).
EBEL DIGGING IT UP: Junior libero Billy Ebel tallied a career-high 10 digs in BSU's season-opener versus No. 4 Stanford . . . After two seasons of playing mainly as a serving specialist, Ebel took over the starting libero role this season after the graduation of All-American Ian Peckler . . . Entering the season, Ebel had only collected 74 digs in his previous 56 matches for a 0.47 digs-per-game average . . . His previous career-high was nine digs versus Mercyhurst (2/16/08).
THE ATTENDANCE: The BSU men's volleyball team opened the 2009 season with a Worthen Arena record 3,729 fans at the Jan. 17 match versus No. 4 Stanford . . . The previous record was 3,572 set versus No. 3 UCLA on March 1, 2008 . . . Since Worthen Arena began hosting BSU men's volleyball in 1992, the Cardinals have cracked the 1,000 mark in attendance a total of 16 times, with 14 of the crowds coming in the last four seasons . . . The largest crowds to watch volleyball in Worthen Arena came when BSU hosted the 1992 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championships with 7,391 in attendance for the championship match which saw Pepperdine sweep Stanford April 25, 1992 . . . 5,711 fans attended the April 24, 1992 semifinal matches.
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 . . . James Rider will provide the play-by-play action this season, while Nick Golden provides the color commentary and Adam Lickliter brings the sideline reports . . . 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.
