No. 15 Men's Volleyball Travels To IPFW Saturday

Grand Canyon University Men?s Volleyball Team Joins The MIVA

April 10, 2009 | Men's Volleyball

By: Ball State Athletics

CARDINALS TRAVEL UP I-69 TO BATTLE IPFW: The Ball State men's volleyball team, which has not played since a March 28 victory over Quincy, returns to action Saturday, when it travels up I-69 for a 7 p.m. showdown with Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association rival IPFW.

AROUND THE MIVA:
After collecting a pair of pivotal road wins last weekend, Ohio State (8-1) enters the week in sole possession of first place in the MIVA standings . . . With a win in its Friday match versus IPFW, the Buckeyes would secure the 2009 MIVA Championship and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming MIVA Tournament . . . Lewis (5-2) is currently second and is the only team with a chance to catch OSU, but would need to win out and have Ohio State lose to IPFW . . . Ball State (5-4) is currently third in the standings, followed by IPFW (3-3), Loyola (1-5) and Quincy (0-7).

BALL STATE VS. IPFW:
Ball State owns a commanding 60-25 advantage in the battle of I-69, including a 3-0 (30-23, 36-34, 30-23) victory in the first meeting this season, Feb. 27 at Worthen Arena . . . Last season, the Cardinals swept the series with a 3-1 (30-26, 24-30, 30-19, 30-27) road win March 7 and a 3-2 (32-34, 23-30, 30-23, 30-28, 15-11) home victory March 21 . . . Overall, BSU has won 14 of the last 19 matches between the two teams.

SCOUTING BALL STATE:
The Cardinals enter the week with a 14-8 overall record and ranked 15th in the latest Bison/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll after being idle last week . . . Todd Chamberlain paces the Ball State attack with a 3.28 kills-per-game average, while J.D. Gasparovic leads the BSU offense and league with a .482 (176-28-307) attack percentage . . . At the net, Gasparovic also owns a league-best 1.49 blocks-per-game average . . . Ethan Pheister has set the BSU offense to a .285 rate of success this season, while adding 1.17 digs and 0.99 blocks per game . . . Billy Ebel holds down the BSU backcourt with a 2.80 digs-per-game average.

SCOUTING IPFW:
The Mastodons enter the week with a 12-10 overall record after posting a pair of wins over Quincy last week . . . Darryl Shank paces the IPFW attack with a 3.95 kills-per-game average, while Oliver Kook leads the Mastodons' offense with a .338 (183-58-370) attack percentage . . . At the net, Kook also owns a team-best 1.23 blocks-per-game average . . . Dan Mader and Corey Stewart split time as IPFW's setter and have guided the offense to a .201 rate of success this season . . . Ben Duckworth leads the IPFW backcourt with 1.96 digs per game, while Shank ranks second at 1.83.

CARDINALS IN THE POLLS:
The Cardinals capitalized on their week off, climbing back into the latest Bison/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . BSU received 18 points in this week's poll and is tied with Loyola for the No. 15 slot . . . So far this season, BSU has been ranked in eight of the 14 polls, and has received points in all 14 . . . The Cardinals have been ranked: 12th (preseason poll), 13th (Jan. 12, Jan. 19 and Feb. 2), 14th (March 9, March 23) and 15th (March 2 & April 6) . . . This week, Ohio State is the top-ranked MIVA squad at 11th, while Lewis is 12th after losing to the Buckeyes last week.

BREAKING DOWN THE RANKINGS:
So far the season, the Cardinals are a perfect 3-0 in matches in which the squad has been ranked 15th, topping Quincy (March 5) and Grand Canyon (March 7 & 8) . . . BSU is also a perfect 9-0 in matches when it is outside the top 15 . . . However, BSU is a combined 2-8 when it is ranked higher than 15th (1-4 at No. 13 and 1-4 at No. 14) . . . Ball State is also 3-5 on the road when it is ranked, with all three wins coming when it last held the No. 15 slot.

1,011 AND COUNTING:
After going 1-1 in the final weekend of March, Ball State men's volleyball has amassed an overall program record of 1,011-397-8 in 45-plus years . . . The program joins baseball (1,367-1,274-14 in 88-plus years as of April 5) 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 1,183-250 record over 46-plus years (as of April 3).

SERVING IT UP:
In the March 28 victory over Quincy, redshirt freshman Dominic Spadavecchio racked up a career-high and BSU single-game record eight service aces in the opening set . . . Spadavecchio, who saw limited action after the opening frame, is the first BSU player to score eight aces in a match since 2006, when current BSU seniors Mark Termion and Matt McCarthy posted a school-record 11 aces, with each scoring six in the opening game, versus Central State (Feb. 7, 2006) . . . Current BSU volunteer assistant coach Mark Rumschik also tallied eight aces in the Central State match.

MORE ON SPADAVECCHIO:
In addition to his eight service aces versus Quincy, Dominic Spadavecchio tied a career-high with 15 kills versus Ohio State (March 27), while tallying a career-best .273 (15-6-33) attack percentage . . . A starter in the last six matches for the Cardinals, Spadavecchio has blasted 10-or-more kills in four of the last six outings, while adding double-digit digs twice for his first two career double-doubles . . . Over the last six matches, Spadavecchio has tallied 60 kills for a 2.40 kills-per-game average . . . In 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 82 assists in BSU's last two matches, Ethan Pheister raised his career assist total to 2,622 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, 1,218 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 .482 hitting percentage . . . Gasparovic, who has hit .500-or-better in 13 of BSU's 22 matches this season, has tallied double-digit kills in 11 matches this season including a career-high 15 kills versus then-No. 11 Lewis (Jan. 30) . . . Over the last seven matches, Gasparovic has smashed double-digit markers six times, while only playing in one game and taking just one swing versus Carthage (March 17).

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 1.49 blocks-per-game average . . . 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 his last 12 complete matches and 14 times overall this season . . . Last season as a freshman, Gasparovic finished the year ranked first in the MIVA with a 1.45 blocks-per-game average.

LOOKING BACK:
The last time a Ball State player led the league in hitting was 2004, when Zoran Grabovac (2003-06) hit .444 to rank first and Andrew Braley (2002-05) hit .442 to rank second in the MIVA . . . Ohio State's Todd Hill was the last player to lead the MIVA and both hitting (.459) and blocking (1.52) in the same season, accomplishing the task in 2001.

CHAMBERLAIN GOING FOR TOP 20:
With his team-leading 17 kills versus Ohio State (March 27), senior Todd Chamberlain broke into the top 20 in program history for career kills . . . Chamberlain added two more kills in the win over Quincy (March 28) to raise his career total to 853, which currently ranks 20th in school annals . . . Paul Nikiforov (1990, 1992-94) is 19th on the all-time list with 861 career kills . . . So far this season, Chamberlain has posted 20-or-more kills in three matches, while adding double-figure kills in 13 of BSU's 22 matches.

MORE ON CHAMBERLAIN:
Todd Chamberlain also raised his career digs total to 453 and career blocks total to 174 after posting seven digs and five 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 12 of Ball State's 22 matches this season, enters the week ranked second in the MIVA and ninth nationally with a 2.80 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 2.78 digs-per-game average.

BALL STATE IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS:
The Cardinals enter the week ranked fourth in the nation with a 1.58 aces-per-game average, with Ethan Pheister ranking sixth in the nation at 0.48 . . . As a team, BSU also ranks seventh in blocks (3.1), seventh in digs (10.45) and eighth in hitting percentage (.285) . . . Joining Pheister in the individual top 10 rankings for the Cardinals are J.D. Gasparovic who is third in blocking (1.49) and Billy Ebel who is ninth in digging (2.80) . . . Gasparovic would be fourth in hitting (.482) if he had five more swings to meet the minimum attempts per game total.

GOING THE DISTANCE:
After snapping 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), the Cardinals suffered their fourth five-set MIVA loss of the year with a 2-3 (30-27, 30-21, 26-30, 27-30, 10-15) setback to Ohio State (March 27) at Worthen Arena . . . With the loss, BSU dropped to 2-4 in five-game contests this season, with all four losses coming in league play . . . 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 have 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 207-112 (.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 108-45 (.706) 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) . . . The Cardinals have also broke the 1,000 fan mark versus IPFW (1,266 on Feb. 27), Loyola (1,377 on Feb. 28) and Ohio State (1,217 on March 27) . . . Since Worthen Arena began hosting BSU men's volleyball in 1992, the Cardinals have cracked the 1,000 mark in attendance a total of 20 times, with 18 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.