Ball State University Athletics
Tournament Time: MVB Set For No. 12 Lewis Thursday
April 30, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
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ON TO THE SEMIFINALS: After collecting a 3-0 sweep of No. 6 seed Quincy last Saturday, the No. 3 seed Ball State men's volleyball team advances to Thursday's MIVA Tournament Semifinal match where it will face No. 2 seed Lewis at 5 p.m. in Ohio State's St. John Arena . . . The second semifinal contest has No. 1 seed Ohio State battling No. 4 seed Loyola at 7:30 p.m. Thursday . . . The MIVA Tournament Championship match is slated for 7 p.m. Saturday at St. John Arena, with the winner earning the league's automatic bid to the four-team NCAA Championship which will be hosted by BYU May 7-9.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION: WCRD 91.3 FM will broadcast and stream BSU's upcoming MIVA Tournament action . . . Fans not in the Muncie area can listen live online and FREE of charge in the webcasts section of www.ballstatesports.com . . . In addition, live video streams of all three matches will be available FREE of charge courtesy of Buckeye Vision . . . Ohio State will also offer live stats . . . See the men's volleyball page at www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com for more information.
AROUND THE MIVA: No. 3 seed Ball State scored a 3-0 (30-18, 30-13, 30-28) victory over No. 6 seed Quincy in its MIVA Tournament quarterfinal match Saturday, while one day earlier, No. 4 seed Loyola knocked off No. 5 seed IPFW 3-0 (30-26, 30-26, 30-28) in quarterfinal play . . . 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 concluding 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. 4 Loyola def. No. 5 IPFW: 3-0 (30-26, 30-26, 30-28)
Saturday, April 25: No. 3 Ball State def. No. 6 Quincy: 3-0 (30-18, 30-13, 30-28)
2009 MIVA Tournament Semifinals (at Ohio State)
Thursday, April 30
No. 3 Ball State vs. No. 2 Lewis, 5 p.m.
No. 4 Loyola vs. No. 1 Ohio State, 7:30 p.m.
2009 MIVA Tournament Championship Match (at Ohio State)
Saturday, May 2: Semifinal Winners, 7 p.m.
THE BALL STATE/LEWIS SERIES: After splitting the two regular season meetings, the Cardinals hold a 24-15 advantage in the all-time series versus Lewis . . . However, the Flyers snapped a 10-match losing streak to BSU with their 3-2 (30-23, 26-30, 28-30, 30-25, 19-17) homecourt victory March 13 . . . The Cardinals are 5-2 versus the Flyers in MIVA Tournament play, including a 1-0 mark in quarterfinal action, a 3-0 record in semifinal play and a 1-2 slate in championship matches . . . Last season, BSU scored a 3-1 (30-28, 30-26, 27-30, 31-29) semifinal win over Lewis.
SCOUTING BALL STATE: The Cardinals enter Thursday's match with a 17-9 overall record after toping Quincy in MIVA Tournament quarterfinal action last Saturday . . . First Team All-MIVA selection Todd Chamberlain paces the Ball State attack with a 3.33 kills-per-game average, while fellow first team honoree J.D. Gasparovic leads the BSU offense and league with a .472 (183-31-322) attack percentage . . . At the net, Gasparovic (who has missed BSU's last three matches due to illness) also owns a league-best 1.45 blocks-per-game average . . . Second Team All-MIVA recipient Ethan Pheister has set the BSU offense to a .281 rate of success this season, while adding 1.20 digs and 1.01 blocks per game . . . Billy Ebel holds down the BSU backcourt with a 2.66 digs-per-game average.
SCOUTING LEWIS: The Flyers enter the week with a 21-7 record and ranked 12th in the latest Bison/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . MIVA Player of the Year Drew Pickering paces the Lewis attack with a 4.19 kills-per-game average, while Alex Vigansky leads the team with a .449 (171-27-321) attack percentage . . . At the net, Billy Sahagian owns a team-best 1.17 blocks-per-game average . . . Mike Iandolo has set the Lewis offense to a .298 rate of success this season, while adding 1.44 digs and 0.74 blocks per game . . . Nick Perakes holds down the Flyers backcourt with a league-best 2.83 digs-per-game average.
BSU VS. LEWIS: In the two previous matches versus Lewis, five BSU players have recorded double-figure kills, paced by J.D. Gasparovic and Todd Chamberlain at 26 apiece . . . Gasparovic, who smashed a career-high 15 kills in the first meeting this season, is also averaging 1.88 blocks per game versus the Flyers . . . BSU setter Ethan Pheister has run the offense at a .252 clip, while Billy Ebel has a team-high 3.25 digs-per-game average . . . The Ball State defense has limited Lewis to a .252 rate of success this season . . . A complete statistical breakdown can be found in pages 10-11 of this release.
LEWIS VS. BSU: In the two previous matches versus BSU, three Hawks have recorded double-figure kills, paced by Drew Pickering at 36 and Nathan Klass at 32 . . . Billy Sahagian is hitting a team-best .395 (23-6-43) versus the Cardinals . . . Flyers setter Mike Iandolo has run the offense at .228 clip, while Nick Perakes has a team-high 3.88 digs-per-game average . . . At the net, Craig Boller has a team-high 1.33 blocks-per-game average . . . A complete statistical breakdown can be found in pages 10-11 of this release.
CARDINALS IN THE TOURNAMENT: Ball State enters Thursday's MIVA Tournament semifinal match with a 55-24 (.696) all-time mark in league tournament play, including last Saturday's win over Quincy . . . BSU is 13-1 in quarterfinal matches, 15-10 in semifinal action and 14-10 in championships matches . . . In addition from 1964-1969, the Cardinals were 12-3 in round robin play . . . Last season, the Cardinals advanced to the league tournament championship match where it lost to No. 1 seed Ohio State 3-0 (30-19, 30-24, 30-21).
IN THE POLLS: Ball State remained outside the top 15 in the latest Bison/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . BSU received 15 points in this week's poll, two more than last week and six less than No. 15 UC Santa Barbara pulled in . . . The final poll will be released May 11 after the NCAA Championships . . . So far this season, BSU has been ranked in nine of the 17 polls, while receiving points in all 17 . . . 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 10th, while Lewis is 12th and Loyola is 13th.
BREAKING DOWN THE RANKINGS: So far this season, BSU is a perfect 10-0 in matches when it is outside the top 15 . . . The Cardinals are also 5-1 when 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).
1,014 AND COUNTING: After splitting a pair of matches last weekend, Ball State men's volleyball has amassed an overall program record of 1,014-398-8 in 45-plus years . . . The program joins baseball (1,372-1,280-14 in 88-plus years as of April 26) 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 ending its 2009 campaign with a 1,185-253 all-time record over 47 years.
ALL-MIVA: Three members of the Ball State men's volleyball team were honored last Thursday when the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association announced its all-conference and specialty award selections, as voted on by the league's six head coaches . . . Representing the Cardinals on the All-MIVA First Team were senior outside attacker Todd Chamberlain and sophomore middle attacker J.D. Gasparovic . . . Junior setter Ethan Pheister earned recognition on the All-MIVA Second Team.
MORE ABOUT THE HONORS: Ball State has placed at least one player on the All-MIVA first team every year since the 2001 season, marking nine straight years . . . In fact, BSU has had at least one first team selection on all but three (1998, 1999 and 2000) of the 49 all-time lists dating back to 1961, when men's volleyball was still a club sport at Ball State . . . Men's volleyball became a varsity sport at BSU in 1964 . . . In all, 70 BSU student-athletes have combined for a total of 117 All-MIVA first team honors . . . 31 Ball State players have earned All-MIVA second team honors a total of 36 times, while two earned All-MIVA third team accolades in the three years of the award (2000-02).
STRONG SERVING: The Cardinals continue to be one of the premiere serving teams in the nation, ranking fourth among all Division I/II schools with a 1.62 aces-per-game average . . . Junior setter Ethan Pheister ranks second in the MIVA and fifth nationally with his 1.45 average, while redshirt freshman outside attacker Dominic Spadavecchio is fourth in the league and 12th nationally at 0.40 . . . Pheister's 45 total aces also rank second in the MIVA and fifth in the nation.
CHAMBERLAIN CLIMBING THE CHARTS: With his 14 kills versus Quincy last Saturday, senior Todd Chamberlain climbed from 18th to 16th in program history with 906 career kills . . . Chamberlain had entered the match tied with Corky Robertson (1981-84) for 18th at 892 . . . He also passed current BSU head coach Joel Walton (1985-88) and Matt Denmark (2000-03) who tallied 897 and 904 kills, respectively, over their careers . . . So far this season, Chamberlain has posted 20-or-more kills in three matches, while adding double-figure kills in 16 of BSU's 26 matches . . . Chamberlain also ranks 15th in program history with his 2.95 career kills-per-game average.
MORE ON CHAMBERLAIN: Todd Chamberlain also raised his career digs total to 481 and career blocks total to 188 after posting five digs and two blocks against Quincy . . . 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.
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.
PHEISTER DISHING THE ROCK: Junior setter Ethan Pheister became just the seventh player in program history to reach 2,000 career assists in the Feb. 21 match versus Carthage . . . Both his 2,728 career helpers and his 11.00 career assists-per-game average rank him fifth in program history . . . In addition, his 68 career service aces tie Chad Weyenberg (1982-85) for 18th in program history.
EBEL DIGGING IT UP: Junior libero Billy Ebel, who has posted double-figure digs in 13 of Ball State's 26 matches this season, enters Thursday's match ranked second in the MIVA and 15th nationally with a 2.66 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: In addition to ranking fourth in the nation in serving, the Cardinals rank sixth in the nation in blocks per game (3.05) and ninth in winning percentage (.654) . . . 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.
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 entire run in the 2009 MIVA Tournament, continuing with Thursday's match versus Lewis . . . 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.
