Ball State University Athletics
No. 14 Men's Volleyball Hosts Ohio State Friday
March 27, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
CARDINALS RETURN HOME FOR PAIR OF MIVA MATCHES: After playing eight of its last nine matches on the road, the Ball State men's volleyball team returns to Worthen Arena Friday for a 7:30 p.m. showdown with Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association rival Ohio State . . . Saturday, the Cardinals host Quincy at 7:30 p.m. in another league showdown.
AROUND THE MIVA: By virtue of its win over the Cardinals Wednesday, Mar. 11, Ohio State (5-1) has a half match lead over Lewis (4-1) for first place in the MIVA standings . . . Ball State (4-3) fell from first to third after losing three five-set road matches from Mar. 11-14, while IPFW (1-3) is fourth, followed by Loyola (1-4) and Quincy (0-3) . . . All six league teams played non-conference matches last week.
BALL STATE VS. OHIO STATE: The Cardinals currently hold a 98-78-1 lead in the all-time series versus Ohio State, despite losses in eight of the last 11 meetings . . . Earlier this season, OSU posted a 3-2 (30-25, 20-30, 30-21, 26-30, 15-12) victory over the Cardinals at St. John Arena (March 11) . . . Last season, the teams split the regular-season series with each squad defending its home court . . . The Buckeyes also scored a 3-0 (30-19, 30-24, 30-21) win over BSU in the championship match of the 2008 MIVA Tournament, which was hosted by OSU . . . Overall, the home team has won the last seven meetings in the series.
BALL STATE VS. QUINCY: Ball State holds a 31-2 advantage in the all-time series versus Quincy, including wins in the last 18 matches . . . Earlier this season, BSU scored a 3-1 (30-20, 30-20, 35-37, 30-19) victory at Quincy (March 5) . . . Last season, the Cardinals swept the regular season series - - 3-0 (30-28, 30-15, 30-18) at Quincy Jan. 11 and 3-0 (30-18, 30-15, 30-26) at home March 22 - - and picked up a 3-1 (30-17, 30-17, 27-30, 30-27) MIVA Tournament quarterfinal victory over the Hawks April 19 . . . Quincy's last win in the series was a 3-1 (33-31, 24-30, 30-20, 30-26) triumph March 2, 2001.
SCOUTING BALL STATE: The Cardinals enter the week with a 13-7 overall record and ranked 14th in the latest Bison/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll after scoring three wins last week . . . Todd Chamberlain paces the Ball State attack with a 3.34 kills-per-game average, while J.D. Gasparovic leads the BSU offense and league with a .494 (154-23-265) attack percentage . . . At the net, Gasparovic also owns a league-best 1.51 blocks-per-game average . . . Ethan Pheister has set the BSU offense to a .290 rate of success this season, while adding 1.18 digs and 0.99 blocks per game . . . Billy Ebel holds down the BSU backcourt with a 2.81 digs-per-game average.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes enter the week with a 9-9 (5-1 MIVA) record after losing at George Mason and defeating Rutgers-Newark last week . . . Robbie Klein paces the Ohio State attack with a 3.38 kills-per-game average, while Ben Spurlock leads the team with a .457 (98-19-173) attack percentage . . . At the net, John Albertson owns a team-best 1.40 blocks-per-game average . . . Steven Kehoe has set the OSU offense to a .281 rate of success this season, while adding 2.14 digs and 0.88 blocks per game . . . Mik Berzins holds down the Buckeyes backcourt with a team-best 2.71 digs-per-game average.
SCOUTING QUINCY: The Hawks enter the week with an 16-21 overall record after posting a 2-2 record in non-conference play last week . . . With 25 players seeing action this season, the Hawks have a variety of looks to throw at opponents . . . Peter Coley paces the squad with a 2.62 kills-per-game average, while Kyle Volstad leads the Hawks' offense with a .343 (83-26-166) attack percentage . . . Coley is also the squad's top blocker at 0.82 blocks per game . . . Ivan Shirokov, one of five Quincy setters, set a majority of the first match versus BSU this season and has helped guide the team to a .215 attack percentage this season . . . Matt Bronson is the team's top libero, averaging 2.62 digs per game this season.
CARDINALS IN THE POLLS: After scoring wins over Carthage, Rutgers-Newark and George Mason last week, the Ball State men's volleyball team climbed back into the No. 14 slot in the latest Bison/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . BSU received 24 points in this week's poll . . . So far this season, BSU has been ranked 12th (preseason poll), 13th (Jan. 12, Jan. 19 and Feb. 2), 14th (March 9, March 23) and 15th (March 2) . . . This week, Lewis remains the top-ranked MIVA squad at 11th, while Loyola is 15th . . . Ohio State fell out of the poll, receiving just 14 points.
1,010 AND COUNTING: After going 3-0 last week, Ball State men's volleyball has amassed an overall program record of 1,010-396-8 in 45-plus years . . . The program joins baseball (1,364-1,271-14 in 88-plus years as of March 22) and men's basketball (1,079-980-1 in 88 years) as the only programs in school history to reach 1,000 wins . . . 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 1,180-249 record over 46-plus years (as of March 13).
SPADAVECCHIO MAKING HIS MARK: Over the last four matches, redshirt freshman Dominic Spadavecchio has made the most of his playing time, ranking second on the squad with 43 kills and a 2.53 kills-per-game average . . . He has posted double-digit kills in three of the four contests, including a career-high 15 markers in the win at Rutgers-Newark (March 20) . . . He has also scored his first two career double-double during the run with 12 kills and 10 digs at Loyola (March 14) and 10 digs in addition to his 15 kills at RNU . . . Over BSU's first 16 matches, in which he played in 13, Spadavecchio had just 55 kills and a 1.83 kills-per-game average.
FOUR MORE TO GO: With 142 assists in BSU's three matches last week, Ethan Pheister raised his career assist total to 2,540 which ranks fifth on Ball State's all-time career charts . . . John Shondell (1989, 1991-93) is fourth on BSU's all-time list with 3,840 assists, 1,300 more than Pheister . . . Pheister became just the seventh player in program history to reach 2,000 career assists in the Feb. 21 match versus Carthage, while becoming the 13th player in program history to log over 1,000 career assists in BSU's win over Mercyhurst (Feb. 16, 2008) . . . Chris Cooper (1987-90) is the program's all-time leader with 7,281 assists.
TOP DOG: Dubbed "The Bulldog" by public address announcer and BSU men's volleyball alum Steve Shondell, sophomore J.D. Gasparovic leads the MIVA with a .494 hitting percentage . . . Gasparovic has hit .500-or-better in 12 of BSU's 20 matches this season, including a .591 rate of success after smashing a career-high 15 kills on 22 swings with just two errors in the win over then-No. 11 Lewis (Jan. 30) . . . Over the last five matches, Gasparovic had tallied double-digit kills four times, while only seeing one game and one swing in the fifth contest (Carthage).
HE CAN BLOCK TOO: In addition to leading the MIVA in hitting, J.D. Gasparovic is the MIVA's top blocker entering the week with a 1.51 blocks-per-game average . . . In his two complete matches last week, Gasparovic tallied 10 total blocks (one solo and nine assists) . . . In the March 8 win at Grand Canyon, Gasparovic tied a career-high with 13 total blocks (one solo and 12 assists) . . . Gasparovic has posted five-or-more blocks in each of the last 10 complete matches and 12 times overall this season.
CHAMBERLAIN GOING FOR TOP 20: After collecting 25 kills last week, senior Todd Chamberlain raised his career kill total to 834 . . . Chamberlain, who ranks 15th in program annals with a 2.93 career kills-per-game average, needs 11 more kills to pass Lee Killian's (1980-83) total of 844 kills for 20th on BSU's career list . . . So far this season, Chamberlain has posted 20-or-more kills in three matches, while adding double-figure kills in 12 of BSU's 20 matches, including seven of the last eight outings . . . He posted his first double-double of the year with 17 kills and 10 digs at Lewis (March 13).
MORE ON CHAMBERLAIN: Todd Chamberlain also raised his career digs total to 446 and career blocks total to 169 after posting 13 digs and four blocks last week . . . Chamberlain is looking to become just the 14 player in program history to record over 850 kills and 500 digs in a career, with Nick Meyer (2004-07) being the last player to accomplish the task at 1,415 kills and 557 digs.
EBEL DIGGING IT UP: Junior libero Billy Ebel, who has posted double-figure digs in 11 of Ball State's 20 matches this season, enters the week ranked first in the MIVA and in the top 10 nationally with a 2.81 digs-per-game average . . . Ebel posted a career-high 18 digs in the Feb. 27 win over IPFW, which is a BSU rally-scoring era record for digs in a three-game match . . . In league-only matches, Ebel owns a 2.80 digs-per-game average.
BALL STATE IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: Last week, the Cardinals ranked seventh in the nation with its 3.21 blocks-per-game average . . . BSU also ranked seventh in hitting percentage (.298), 10th in digs (10.41) and 13th in both winning percentage (.588) and aces per game (1.41) . . . Individually in the top 10 for the Cardinals were, J.D. Gasparovic who led the nation with a 1.60 blocks-per-game average, while Ethan Pheister is ninth with a 0.45 aces-per-game average . . . This weeks stat rankings are currently unavailable.
GOING THE DISTANCE: The Cardinals snapped their streak of five-set losses with a 3-2 (19-30, 32-30, 30-27, 28-30, 15-6) victory at George Mason (March 21) . . . With the win, BSU improved to 2-3 in five-game contests this season . . . Prior to the win at GMU, Ball State had lost its last three five-game matches, all within a span of four days . . . BSU suffered five-game losses at Ohio State (March 11), at Lewis (March 13) and at Loyola (March 14), marking the first time in program history the Cardinals had lost three straight matches in five games . . . The only other time BSU played three straight five-game matches was in 2000, when the Cardinals defeated Lewis (Jan. 28), Rutgers-Newark (Feb. 4) and Stanford (Feb. 5).
WALTON REACHES 200: Head coach Joel Walton became just the second coach in program history to record 200 career victories with Ball State's 3-2 (29-31, 30-27, 30-25, 23-30, 15-7) win over then-No. 14 Loyola Feb. 28 . . . Over his 11-year tenure, Walton has amassed a 206-111 (.650) career record . . . He picked up his first career head coaching victory versus Mercyhurst Jan. 17, 1999, while his 100th win came versus Springfield College Feb. 1, 2004 . . . In league action, Walton owns a 107-44 (.709) MIVA ledger with his 100th career victory coming at Mercyhurst (March 8, 2008).
TEAM EFFORT LEADS BSU TO 1,000TH WIN: In the Feb. 13 win over MSOE, 14 of BSU's 15 active players helped guide the program to its 1,000th all-time win . . . Redshirt junior Ben Irwin and sophomore James Emming led the BSU offense with seven kills apiece, while sophomore transfer Andy Nelson added six . . . Overall, 11 different Cardinals recorded at least one kill in the contest, with Lee Meyer providing the match winner for one of his five connections with the hardwood floor . . . Overall, over 250 alumni and 18 current student-athletes have helped the Cardinals reach the 1,000 win plateau . . . Eight alumni and program founder Don Shondell have been inducted into the Ball State Athletics Hall of Fame.
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) . . . Last weekend, the Cardinals drew 1,266 fans versus IPFW (Feb. 27) and 1,377 fans versus then-No. 14 Loyola (Feb. 28) . . . Since Worthen Arena began hosting BSU men's volleyball in 1992, the Cardinals have cracked the 1,000 mark in attendance a total of 19 times, with 17 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.
