Ball State University Athletics
LIve Video Available For MVB Matches At GCU
March 07, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
LIVE VIDEO SATURDAY & SUNDAY: Grand Canyon University will offer live video for this weekend's matches versus No. 10/15 Ball State. For more information, visit the following link: http://b2tv.com/partner_members.asp?id=78
CARDINALS OPEN SIX-MATCH ROAD SWING: The Ball State men's volleyball team opens a six-match road swing Thursday when it travels to Quincy for a 7 p.m. (CT) Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association showdown with the Hawks . . . Saturday and Sunday, the Cardinals will visit Phoenix, Ariz., for two matches versus Grand Canyon University . . . Saturday's match starts at 7 p.m. (MST), while Sunday's contest will be played at 1 p.m. (MST).
LONG ROAD HOME: The Cardinals, which are riding a six-match winning streak, will play eight of their next nine matches on the road, beginning this week . . . After matches at MIVA foe Quincy and Grand Canyon University, the Cardinals play three more crucial league road matches in a span of four days, traveling to No. 14 Ohio State, No. 9 Lewis and Loyola from March 11-14 . . . After hosting Carthage (March 17), BSU will visit Rutgers-Newark and George Mason March 20-21 . . . In all, the Cardinals will travel over 6,556 miles in 18 days (March 5-22) to play nine matches.
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 last Saturday (Feb. 28) . . . Over his 11-year tenure, Walton has amassed a 200-108 (.649) 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 106-41 (.721) MIVA ledger with his 100th career victory coming at Mercyhurst (March 8, 2008).
BALL STATE VS. QUINCY: Ball State holds a 30-2 advantage in the all-time series versus Quincy, including wins in the last 17 matches . . . 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.
BALL STATE VS. GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY: Saturday's match will be the first between the Cardinals and Antelopes . . . It will also be just the second home match in GCU program history.
SCOUTING BALL STATE: The Cardinals enter the week with a 7-4 overall record and ranked 15th in the latest Bison/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll after sweeping IPFW and defeating then-No. 14 Loyola in five games last weekend . . . Todd Chamberlain paces the Ball State attack with a 3.29 kills-per-game average, while J.D. Gasparovic leads the BSU offense and the MIVA with a .516 (75-11-124) attack percentage . . . At the net, Gasparovic also owns a team-best 1.41 blocks-per-game average . . . Ethan Pheister has set the BSU offense to a .278 rate of success this season, while adding 1.11 digs and 1.17 blocks per game . . . Billy Ebel holds down the BSU backcourt with a team and league-best 3.14 digs-per-game average.
SCOUTING QUINCY: The Hawks enter the week with an 8-15 overall record after losing to Lindenwood and topping Hannibal-LaGrange last week . . . With 25 players seeing action this season, the Hawks have a variety of looks to throw at opponents . . . Among players who saw action versus Ohio State, Peter Coley paces the squad with a 2.66 kills-per-game average, while Kyle Volstad leads the Hawks' offense with a .398 (46-11-88) attack percentage . . . Coley is also the squad's top blocker at 0.76 blocks per game . . . Ivan Shirokov, one of five Quincy setters, set both matches versus Ohio State and has helped guide the team to a .195 attack percentage this season . . . Collin Cooper served as the team's libero in the two OSU matches and averages 1.92 digs per game this season.
SCOUTING GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY: The Antelopes enter the week with a 2-15 overall record after losing to King College and then-No. 14 Loyola (who flew to Phoenix Sunday after playing at Ball State Saturday night) last week . . . Taylor Griffin paces the GCU attack with a 2.81 kills-per-game average, while Brennan Zotovich leads the Antelopes offense with a .278 (118-47-255) attack percentage . . . At the net, Zotovich also owns a team-best 0.78 blocks-per-game average . . . Chris Bradshaw has set the GCU offense to a .160 rate of success this season, while adding 1.41 digs per game . . . Kyle Norton holds down the Antelopes backcourt with a 2.24 digs-per-game average.
CARDINALS IN THE POLLS: After wins over IPFW and then-No. 14 Loyola last weekend, the Ball State men's volleyball team climbed to 15th in the latest Bison/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . Ball State, which had not been ranked for four of the previous five weeks, was ranked 12th in the preseason poll and 13th in the Jan. 12, Jan. 19 and Feb. 2 polls . . . This week, Lewis is the top-ranked MIVA squad at ninth, while Ohio State is 13th.
1,004 AND COUNTING: With two more wins last weekend, Ball State men's volleyball has amassed an overall program record of 1,004-393-8 in 45-plus years . . . The program joins baseball (1,357-1,266-14 in 88-plus years as of March 1) and men's basketball (1,078-977-1 in 87-plus years as of Feb. 28) 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 1,178-247 record over 46-plus years (as of Feb. 28).
PHEISTER SERVING IT UP: After posting a career-high five service aces in two of the last three matches, junior setter Ethan Pheister ranks seventh in the nation with a 0.47 aces-per-game average . . . On the year, Pheister has racked-up a team-leading 17 aces.
MORE ON PHEISTER: Ethan Pheister became just the seventh player in program history to reach 2,000 career assists in the Feb. 21 match versus Carthage . . . Pheister, who enters Thursday's match versus Quincy with 2090, assists, 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.
TOP DOG: Dubbed "The Bulldog" by public address announcer and BSU men's volleyball alum Steve Shondell, sophomore J.D. Gasparovic leads the nation with a .516 hitting percentage . . . Gasparovic has hit .500-or-better in seven of BSU's 11 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) . . . At the net, Gasparovic ranks second in the MIVA and eighth nationally with a 1.41 blocks-per-game average . . . In league-only matches, Gasparovic is hitting .490 with a 2.00 blocks-per-game average.
CHAMBERLAIN GOING FOR TOP 20: After collecting 23 kills last weekend, senior Todd Chamberlain raised his career kill total to 722 . . . Chamberlain, who ranks 16th in program annals with a 2.87 career kills-per-game average, needs 123 more kills to pass Lee Killian's (1980-83) total of 844 kills for 20th on BSU's career list . . . Chamberlain is also nearing 400 career digs and 150 career blocks, with 395 and 149, respectively entering Thursday's contest . . . Chamberlain is currently on pace to become one of only 13 players 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 seven of Ball State's 11 matches this season, enters the week ranked first in the MIVA and fourth nationally with a 3.14 digs-per-game average . . . Ebel posted a career-high 18 digs in last Friday's win over IPFW (Feb. 27), which is a BSU rally-scoring era record for digs in a three-game match.
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.
