Ball State University Athletics
No. 13 Men's Volleyball Hosts George Mason Thursday
February 04, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
BSU CONTINUES HOME STAND THURSDAY & FRIDAY: The No. 13 Ball State men's volleyball team continues its current four-match home stand this week, with non-conference matches versus George Mason (Thursday) and Rutgers-Newark (Friday) . . . Both matches start at 7:30 p.m. at Worthen Arena.
TOPPING PRESEASON FAVORITE: BSU opened the four-match home stand with a 3-0 (30-26, 32-30, 34-32) upset of No. 11 Lewis (Jan. 30), who entered the match as the preseason favorite to win the MIVA title . . . In the second game, BSU trailed 29-26 before scoring six of the final seven points to win the frame 32-30 . . . In game three, Ball State held off three game-point attempts from Lewis before winning the stanza 34-32.
BALL STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Ball State holds a 35-23 lead in the all-time series with George Mason after splitting a pair of matches last season . . . Both teams picked up road wins in the series last season, with BSU scoring 3-2 (33-35, 30-24, 26-30, 30-26, 17-15) victory Feb. 8 and GMU winning 3-1 (33-31, 30-26, 26-30, 30-26) April 5 . . . Overall, George Mason has won six of the last 10 meetings . . . The Cardinals own a 38-7 advantage in the all-time series with Rutgers-Newark, including 10 straight wins . . . Last season, BSU scored a 3-0 (30-18, 30-27, 30-15) road win Feb. 9 and a 3-1 (30-28, 30-16, 40-42, 30-28) home win April 5 . . . The third game of the April 5 match, which saw 26 ties and 12 lead changes, was the second-longest in Ball State history during the rally-scoring era, trailing only a 43-41 game-three setback to Loyola on March 25, 2003 in the MIVA Tournament semi-finals.
SCOUTING BALL STATE: The Cardinals enter the week ranked 13th in the nation with a 1-3 (1-0 MIVA) record after sweeping No. 11 Lewis last Friday at Worthen Arena . . . Todd Chamberlain paces the Ball State attack with a 3.85 kills-per-game average, while J.D. Gasparovic leads the BSU offense and the league with a .565 (40-5-62) attack percentage . . . At the net, Gasparovic also owns a MIVA-best 1.57 blocks-per-game average . . . Ethan Pheister has set the BSU offense to a .253 rate of success this season, while adding a team-best five aces and a 1.14 blocks-per-game average . . . Billy Ebel holds down the BSU backcourt with a team and league-best 3.71 digs-per-game average.
SCOUTING GEORGE MASON: The Patriots enter the week with a 2-1 overall record and have not played since a Jan. 24 sweep of IPFW . . . Kyle Gramit paces the GMU attack with a 4.36 kills-per-game average, while Brandon McLaughlin leads the Patriots' offense with a .485 (20-4-33) attack percentage . . . At the net, Erik Lanham owns a team-best 2.00 blocks-per-game average . . . Ryan Kwiatkowski has set the GMU offense to a .288 rate of success this season, while adding a 1.10 blocks-per-game average . . . Eric Lucas holds down the George Mason backcourt with a 2.73 digs-per-game average.
SCOUTING RUTGERS-NEWARK: The Scarlet Raiders enter the week with a 2-2 overall record after scoring wins over East Stroudsburg and Mt. Olive last weekend . . . Nate Stott paces the RNU attack with a 4.08 kills-per-game average, while Kenny Rienecker leads the Scarlet Raiders' regulars with a .323 (42-14-86) attack percentage . . . At the net, Jon Keller owns a team-best 1.69 blocks-per-game average . . . Liran Shapiro has set the RNU offense to a .227 rate of success this season, while adding a 1.62 digs-per-game average . . . Caden Mulligan holds down the Rutgers-Newark backcourt with a 3.15 digs-per-game average.
CARDINALS IN THE POLLS: After falling out of the rankings last week, the Cardinals climbed back into the No. 13 slot in the latest Bison/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll thanks to a sweep of No. 11 Lewis last Friday . . . BSU was ranked 12th in the preseason poll, and 13th the following two weeks, before falling out of the poll for one week . . . The Cardinals finished the 2008 season ranked 10th, after climbing as high as sixth in the final March poll.
TWO MORE TO GO: The Ball State men's volleyball team enters the week with an all-time record of 998-392-8 . . . The Cardinals are two 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 (1,075-972-1 in 87+ years as of Jan. 31) . . . 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 1,175-242 record over 46+ years (as of Jan. 30).
WALTON NEARING 200 WINS: BSU head coach Joel Walton enters the week with a 194-107 (.645) 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).
TOP DOG: Dubbed "The Bulldog" by public address announcer and BSU men's volleyball alum Steve Shondell, sophomore J.D. Gasparovic currently leads the MIVA in both hitting percentage (.565) and blocks-per-game average (1.57) . . . In BSU's sweep of MIVA preseason favorite No. 11 Lewis, Gasparovic collected eight total blocks and a career-high 15 kills, while hitting for a .591 rate of success.
CHAMBERLAIN GOING FOR TOP 20: After collecting nine kills last weekend, senior Todd Chamberlain raised his career kill total to 660 . . . Chamberlain, who now ranks 16th in program annals with a 2.86 career kills-per-game average, needs 185 more kills to pass Lee Killian's (1980-83) career total of 844 kills for 20th on BSU's career list.
WELCOME BACK MCCARTHY: After missing the first three matches of the season due to injury, BSU fifth-year senior Matt McCarthy returned to the lineup in last Friday's win over No. 11 Lewis . . . In the victory, McCarthy smashed seven kills while connecting for a .500 hitting mark and adding four block assists . . . McCarthy enters the week ranked third in program history with a .415 career hitting percentage, while his 1.11 blocks-per-game average is 11th on BSU's career list . . . He also climbed to 18th on BSU's career total block list at 325, while ranking 15th in career block assists at 273.
PHEISTER DISHING IT OUT: After handing out 44 assists versus No. 11 Lewis, junior setter Ethan Pheister enters Thursday's match versus George Mason ranked seventh in program history with 1,833 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) . . . Dave Carlson (2005-06) is sixth on BSU's all-time career assists list with 2,153 helpers, while Chris Cooper (1987-90) is the program's all-time leader with 7,281 assists.
THE BIG BLOCK: The Ball State defense has recorded double-figure team blocks in all four matches this season, and currently ranks first in the MIVA with a 3.64 blocks-per-game average . . . J.D. Gasparovic is the MIVA's top blocker at 1.57 blocks per game, while Andy Nelson (1.45/3rd), Ethan Pheister (1.14/6th) and Todd Chamberlain (1.08/9th) join him in the top 10 of the MIVA rankings.
EBEL DIGGING IT UP: Junior libero Billy Ebel posted his fourth straight match with double-figure digs when he recorded 12 digs versus No. 11 Lewis . . . Ebel, who posted a career-high 16 digs at St. Francis (Jan. 24), currently leads the MIVA with a 3.71 digs-per-game average.
SCHULTE DOUBLES UP: Junior Eric Schulte recorded career-highs of 12 kills and 12 digs for his first career double-double versus No. 11 Lewis . . . Entering the match, Schulte had only tallied double figure kills twice in his career - - 11 at Ohio State (3/9/07) and 10 at St. Francis (1/24/09) - - while only collecting double-digit digs once - - 10 vs. George Mason (3/23/07).
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 and followed with 1,507 fans versus No. 11 Lewis (Jan. 30) . . . Since Worthen Arena began hosting BSU men's volleyball in 1992, the Cardinals have cracked the 1,000 mark in attendance a total of 17 times, with 15 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 serve as the radio home for the Ball State men's volleyball team during the 2009 season . . . The student-run station is slated to broadcast all 12 home matches, as well as selected road matches and the entire MIVA Tournament . . . James Rider will provide the play-by-play action, while Nick Golden provides the color commentary and Adam Lickliter brings the sideline reports . . . The station also serves 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.
