Ball State University Athletics
Tournament Time: MVB Hosts Quincy Saturday
April 25, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
TOURNAMENT TIME: The Ball State men's volleyball team opens play in the 2009 MIVA Tournament Saturday, with a 7:30 p.m. quarterfinal showdown versus Quincy . . . The Cardinals enter tournament play as the No. 3 seed, while the Hawks are the No. 6 seed . . . WCRD 91.3 FM will cover the match live and online at www.ballstatsports.com . . . The winner will advance to face No. 2 seed Lewis in the 5 p.m. MIVA Tournament semifinal match which will be played at Ohio State Thursday, April 30.
AROUND THE MIVA: Ohio State earned the No. 1 seed, a quarterfinal round bye and hosting rights in the 2009 MIVA Tournament by finishing the regular season with a 9-1 league mark . . . Lewis picked up the second seed and a bye by finishing MIVA action with a 7-3 record . . . Ball State earned the No. 3 slot with a 6-4 league record, and is followed by No. 4 Loyola (5-5), No. 5 IPFW (3-7) and No. 6 Quincy (0-10).
2009 MIVA Tournament Quarterfinals
Friday, April 24
No. 5 IPFW at No. 4 Loyola, 7 p.m. (CT)
Saturday, April 25
No. 6 Quincy at No. 3 Ball State, 7:30 p.m. (Live on WCRD 91.3 FM)
2009 MIVA Tournament Semifinals (Ohio State)
Thursday, April 30
Ball State/Quincy Winner vs. No. 2 Lewis, 5 p.m.
Loyola/IPFW Winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State, 7:30 p.m.
2009 MIVA Tournament Championship Match
Saturday, May 2
Semifinal Winners, 7 p.m.
WRAPPING UP THE REGULAR SEASON: The Cardinals finished the regular season with a 16-9 overall record, including a 6-4 ledger in league play . . . After suffering a 3-0 loss to then-No. 7 Penn State last Friday, the Cardinals celebrated senior day with a 3-1 victory over Saint Francis . . . The Cardinals still have a shot at giving BSU head coach Joel Walton his seventh 20-plus win season, but would need to advance to the finals of the NCAA Championship to do so.
THE BALL STATE/QUINCY SERIES: Including a pair of wins this season, the Cardinals own a 32-2 advantage in the all-time series versus Quincy . . . The Cardinals, which have won the last 19 meetings over the Hawks, have also posted victories in all three MIVA Tournament matches between the two clubs . . . In last season's MIVA Tournament Quarterfinal match up, the Cardinals earned a 3-1 (30-17, 30-17, 27-30, 30-27) victory . . . Quincy's last win in the series was a 3-1 (33-31, 24-30, 30-20, 30-26) triumph March 2, 2001 . . . BSU is 18-1 versus Quincy in matches played in Muncie, with victories in the last 11 matches played on the Cardinals' home court.
SCOUTING BALL STATE: The Cardinals enter Saturday's match with a 16-9 overall record after going 1-1 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 .472 (183-31-322) attack percentage . . . At the net, Gasparovic also owns a league-best 1.45 blocks-per-game average . . . Ethan Pheister has set the BSU offense to a .282 rate of success this season, while adding 1.19 digs and 1.00 blocks per game . . . Billy Ebel holds down the BSU backcourt with a 2.68 digs-per-game average.
SCOUTING QUINCY: The Hawks enter Saturday's match with an 16-30 overall record after ending the regular season April 11 with a 3-0 loss to Loyola . . . 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 2.53 kills-per-game average, while Kyle Volstad leads the Hawks players who have over 200 swings with a .306 (100-36-209) attack percentage . . . Coley is also the squad's top blocker with 81 total blocks for a 0.76 average . . . Ivan Shirokov, one of five Quincy setters, set a majority of the first two matches versus BSU this season and has helped guide the team to a .204 attack percentage this season . . . Collin Cooper has been the team's libero versus Ball State, averaging 2.21 digs per game this season.
BSU VS. QUINCY: In the two previous matches versus Quincy, five BSU players have recorded double-figure kills, paced by Matt Sprague's 21 . . . J.D. Gasparovic is second at 20, while hitting a team-best .655 (20-1-29) . . . BSU setter Ethan Pheister has run the offense at a .359 clip, while Billy Ebel has a team-high 1.83 digs-per-game average . . . At the net, Gasparovic has a 1.57 blocks-per-game average, while Andy Nelson is at 1.17 . . . A complete statistical breakdown can be found in pages 10-11 of this release.
QUINCY VS. BSU: In the two previous matches versus BSU, four Hawks have recorded double-figure digs, paced by Robbie Coughlin and Edward Ricker at 12 each . . . Coughlin is also hitting a team-best .500 (12-2-20) . . . Quincy setter Ivan Shirokov has run the offense at .152 clip, while Collin Cooper has a team-high 2.17 digs-per-game average . . . At the net, Max Pompa has a team-high four total blocks . . . A complete statistical breakdown can be found in pages 10-11 of this release.
IN THE POLLS: After posting a 1-1 mark last weekend, Ball State dropped out of the latest Bison/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . BSU received 13 points in this week's poll, 16 less than No. 15 UC Santa Barbara pulled in . . . So far this season, BSU has been ranked in nine of the 16 polls, while receiving points in all 16 . . . 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 and April 13) . . . This week, Ohio State is the top-ranked MIVA squad at 11th, while Lewis is 12th and Loyola is 14th.
BREAKING DOWN THE RANKINGS: So far this season, BSU is a perfect 9-0 in matches when it is outside the top 15 . . . The Cardinals are also 5-1 in matches in which the squad has been ranked 15th, topping Quincy (March 5), Grand Canyon (March 7 & 8), IPFW (April 11) and Saint Francis (April 18), while only losing to then-No. 7 Penn State (April 17) . . . 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).
1,013 AND COUNTING: After splitting a pair of matches last weekend, Ball State men's volleyball has amassed an overall program record of 1,013-398-8 in 45-plus years . . . The program joins baseball (1,369-1,279-14 in 88-plus years as of April 18) 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 1,185-252 record over 46-plus years (as of April 18).
SENIORS PLAY KEY ROLE AGAINST SAINT FRANCIS: In last Saturday's senior day victory, BSU relied heavily on its four seniors . . . Todd Chamberlain paced all attackers with 17 kills, while adding eight digs . . . Chamberlain, who smashed the match-winning kill, also added three service aces . . . Mark Termion collected a career-high 11 digs as the team's libero, while Ben Irwin added career-highs of eight kills and a .700 (8-1-10) attack percentage . . . Matt McCarthy rounded out the group with a season-high seven total blocks (one solo, six assists), while smashing five kills and earning four digs.
SHE SAID YES: Prior to collecting his career-high 11 digs versus Saint Francis, senior Mark Termion won a bigger prize in last Friday's match versus then-No. 7 Penn State . . . As part of the Joel Walton Music Trivia Contest between games one and two, Termion proposed to his long-time girlfriend Katie Meyer . . . Meyer, who was pulled out of the stands by on-court MC Rick Johnston, guessed the name of the chosen tune correctly (Stolen by Dashboard Confessional) and waiting to give her the prize was Termion . . . After saying a few words in the microphone, Termion got down on one knee and proposed . . . Meyer's answer was YES, and the crowd of 1,061 followed with loudest standing ovation of the night.
STRONG SERVING: Junior setter Ethan Pheister continued his strong serving last weekend, blasting five aces in BSU's two matches . . . He logged a team-high three aces versus then-No. 7 Penn State, while adding two more versus Saint Francis . . . Pheister enters the week with a league-best 0.49 aces-per-game average, while his 44 total aces rank second in the MIVA . . . Pheister's average also ranks sixth in the nationally.
MORE FROM THE SERVING LINE: Redshirt freshman Dominic Spadavecchio is also having a solid season from the serving line, racking up a 0.42 aces-per-game average which ranks fourth in the league and ninth nationally . . . During his current nine match starting streak, Spadavecchio has racked up a team-leading 21 aces for a 0.57 average . . . The streak includes a BSU season-high and single-game rally scoring era record eight service aces in the opening set of the most-recent contest versus Quincy (March 28).
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 .472 hitting percentage . . . Gasparovic, who has hit .500-or-better in 13 of the 23 matches he has play, has tallied double-digit kills in 11 matches this season including a career-high 15 kills versus then-No. 11 Lewis (Jan. 30) . . . Over his last eight matches, Gasparovic has smashed double-digit markers six times.
HE CAN BLOCK TOO: In addition to leading the MIVA in hitting, J.D. Gasparovic ranks first in the league with a 1.45 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 four-or-more blocks in each of his last 13 complete matches and 17 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 CLIMBING THE CHARTS: With his 23 kills last weekend, senior Todd Chamberlain tied Corky Robertson (1981-84) for 18th on Ball State's the all-time career kills list at 892 . . . So far this season, Chamberlain has posted 20-or-more kills in three matches, while adding double-figure kills in 15 of BSU's 25 matches . . . Chamberlain also ranks 15th in program history with his 2.93 career kills-per-game average.
MORE ON CHAMBERLAIN: Todd Chamberlain also raised his career digs total to 476 and career blocks total to 186 after posting 15 digs and six 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 13 of Ball State's 25 matches this season, enters the week ranked second in the MIVA and 14th nationally with a 2.68 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 2.74 digs-per-game average.
THE NATIONAL STAT RANKINGS: As a team, BSU ranks fourth in the nation in aces per game (1.62), sixth in blocks per game (3.05) and ninth in winning percentage (.640) . . . Individually, J.D. Gasparovic is fifth in blocking (1.45) and would be fourth in hitting (.472) if he were not 10 attempts shy of the 4.0 attempts-per-game minimum average . . . Ethan Pheister and Dominic Spadavecchio join Gasparovic in the top 10, ranking sixth (0.49) and ninth (0.42), respectively, in serving.
THE ATTENDANCE: The Ball State men's volleyball team finished the 2009 regular season with the best fan attendance in the league with an average of 1,160 fans over 12 matches . . . Loyola was second at 700 over 12 matches, followed by Lewis (580/13) and Ohio State (541/12).
MORE ATTENDANCE NUMBERS: Worthen Arena saw a Ball State men's volleyball 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) . . . Overall, BSU broke the 1,000 fan mark six times this season . . . Since Worthen Arena began hosting BSU men's volleyball in 1992, the Cardinals have cracked the 1,000 mark in attendance a total of 21 times, with 19 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 is slated to cover Ball State's run in the 2009 MIVA Tournament, starting with Saturday's match versus Quincy . . . James Rider will cover 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.
