Ball State University Athletics
Men's Volleyball Hosts No. 14 Ohio State Friday
February 05, 2010 | Men's Volleyball
BRING ON THE BUCKEYES: The Ball State men's volleyball team will put its NCAA-leading six match winning streak on the line Friday, when it hosts No. 14 Ohio State in a 7:30 p.m. Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association showdown at Worthen Arena . . . Admission to the match is free, and there will be an autograph poster session following the contest.
MORE ON THE STREAK: Ball State's current six-match winning streak ties as the nation's longest active streak with No. 13 Loyola, who handed the Cardinals their only loss of the season on Jan. 15 . . . Earlier this season, No. 1 Cal-State Northridge, who will visit Worthen Arena March 26-27 for the 2010 Don Shondell/Active Ankle Challenge, opened the year with six straight wins before losing to UCLA (Jan. 22) . . . No. 14 Ohio State enters the week with a five-match winning streak.
THE HOMESTAND: Ball State will conclude its season-long five match homestand Friday versus No. 14 Ohio State . . . In the first four matches, the Cardinals went a perfect 4-0 with wins over Grand Canyon (Jan. 21), Carthage (Jan. 22), George Mason (Jan. 29) and Rutgers-Newark (Jan. 30).
MORE FROM THE NEST: The last time the Cardinals played five straight home matches was in the 2008 season . . . During the homestand, the Cardinals went 5-0 with wins over No. 8 Ohio State (Feb. 15), Mercyhurst (Feb. 16) and No. 11 Loyola (Feb. 20), before topping it off with a two-match sweep of No. 7 UCLA (Feb. 29 & March 1) . . . In 2004, the Cardinals opened the season with six home matches, going a perfect 6-0 in those contests . . . In 2002, the Cardinals won their final two regular season home matches and all three rounds of the MIVA Tournament at Worthen Arena in another perfect 5-0 homestand.
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: The Cardinals enter the week with a 6-1 (1-1 MIVA) record after scoring wins over George Mason and Rutgers-Newark last week . . . Jamion Hartley paces the Ball State attack with a 3.45 kills-per-game average, while J.D. Gasparovic leads the BSU offense with a .385 (57-17-104) attack percentage . . . At the net, Anders Nelson owns a team-best 1.62 blocks-per-game average . . . Ethan Pheister has set the BSU offense to a .236 rate of success this season, while adding 1.35 digs, 0.73 blocks and 0.50 aces per game . . . Billy Ebel holds down the BSU backcourt with a 3.56 digs-per-game average.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes enter the week with a 6-4 (3-0 MIVA) overall record after scoring sweeps of George Mason and Juniata last week . . . The Buckeyes are also ranked 14th in the nation in the latest AVCA Division I-II Men's Volleyball Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . John Klanac paces the OSU attack with a 3.70 kills-per-game average, while Grayson Overman leads the Buckeyes offense with a .485 (63-13-103) attack percentage . . . At the net, Kevin Heine owns a team-best 1.21 blocks-per-game average . . . Steven Kehoe has set the Ohio State offense to a .282 rate of success this season, while adding 1.94 digs and 0.97 blocks per game . . . Mik Berzins holds down the OSU backcourt with a 2.61 digs-per-game average.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES: The Cardinals hold a 96-83-1 lead in the all-time series versus Ohio State, despite losses in 12 of the last 15 meetings . . . The Buckeyes scored 3-2 wins in both regular season meetings last year, while sweeping the Cardinals in the MIVA Tournament Championship match . . . BSU holds a 42-28-1 advantage in matches played in Muncie, including a 10-9 edge in Worthen Arena . . . Ball State's last win in the series was a 3-1 (26-30, 30-28, 32-30, 31-29) home victory Feb. 15, 2008.
THROWING UP THE BLOCK: Junior middle attacker Anders Nelson posted a career-high 11 total blocks (two solo, nine assists) in last Friday's win over George Mason . . . Nelson enters the week ranked second in the league with a 1.62 blocks-per-set average.
MORE FROM THE NET: With five block assists last weekend, junior middle attacker J.D. Gasparovic climbed to 18th in program history with 252 career block assists . . . Over his career, Gasparovic has recorded 282 total blocks for a 1.36 blocks-per-game average . . . His 1.36 average currently ranks seventh in program history, while he needs 36 more total blocks to break into the top 20.
SEEING DOUBLE: Junior outside attacker Lee Meyer continued his strong play last weekend with a pair of double-doubles . . . Meyer posted 13 kills and 12 digs versus George Mason and 16 kills and 13 digs against Rutgers-Newark . . . Meyer has recorded double-doubles in three of the last four matches and is tied for the team lead with double-figure kills in five matches this season . . . Last season, BSU players tallied just six kill-dig double-double with Dominic Spadavecchio leading the team with three.
SPEAKING OF DOUBLE DIGITS: Redshirt freshman outside attacker Jamion Hartley posted a career-high 17 kills in Friday's win over George Mason, while adding 16 one night later versus Rutgers-Newark . . . Over his first seven career matches, Hartley has blasted double-figure kills five times and currently leads the team and ranks 10th in the MIVA with a 3.45 kills-per-game average.
PHEISTER SERVES IT UP: After blasting seven aces in BSU's two matches last week, senior setter Ethan Pheister currently ranks first in the MIVA with a 0.50 aces-per-game average . . . With 13 aces so far this season, Pheister has upped his career total to 81 which ranks 13th in program history . . . Pheister, who also ranks fourth in program history with 3,123 career assists, is on pace to become one of only eight players in school annals to serve up more than 100 aces.
BALL STATE ON THE RADIO: WCRD 91.3 FM will once again be the radio home for the Cardinals during the 2010 season . . . The station is slated to cover all 13 home matches this season, as well as select road contests . . . James Rider will cover the play-by-play action, while Nick Golden provides the color commentary . . . The station also serves as the home for "The Ball State Men's Volleyball Show", a weekly BSU men's volleyball report which airs Mondays from 7-8 p.m. . . . All WCRD broadcasts will be streamed live and FREE of charge at www.ballstatesports.com.
