Ball State University Athletics
MVB Hosts No. 3 Cal State Northridge Friday & Saturday
March 26, 2010 | Men's Volleyball
THE DON SHONDELL/ACTIVE ANKLE CHALLENGE: The Ball State men's volleyball team opens a three-match home stand Friday at 7:30 p.m., when it hosts No. 3 Cal State Northridge in the first of two matches between the programs in the 2010 Don Shondell/Active Ankle Challenge . . . BSU and CSUN will end the two-day challenge with a 7:30 p.m. Saturday rematch which will be webcasted live and free of charge by Ball State Sports Link on ballstatesports.com.
FOLLOW THE ACTION: Ball State and Cal State Northridge fans will have several ways to follow action in the 2010 Don Shondell/Active Ankle Challenge this weekend . . . Live stats and WCRD 91.3 FM audio broadcasts will be available for both matches, while Sports Link will webcast Saturday's showdown . . . Fans can access the live stats and live broadcasts by clicking either the Live Stats button or the Webcasts button found at the top of ballstatesports.com.
MORE ABOUT THE CHALLENGE: This weekend's event is named after former Ball State men's volleyball head coach Don Shondell . . . In 34 seasons (1964, 1966-1998) as the head coach of the Cardinals, Shondell posted a 769-280-6 overall record . . . A 1996 inductee into the National Volleyball Hall of Fame and an inaugural selection to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2003, Shondell led the Cardinals to 20 MIVA regular season championships, 14 NCAA tournament appearances and 13 MIVA tournament titles . . . He was also an eight-time MIVA Coach of the Year honoree, as well as the 1995 AVCA Tachikara National Coach of the Year.
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: The Cardinals enter the week with a 12-7 (4-4 MIVA) record after going 2-0 on the east coast last weekend . . . BSU scored a 3-1 (30-25, 27-30, 30-22, 30-23) win at George Mason last Friday, before earning a 3-0 (30-25, 30-27, 30-28) Saturday sweep at Rutgers-Newark . . . Jamion Hartley paces the Ball State attack with a 3.19 kills-per-game average, while J.D. Gasparovic leads the BSU offense with a .411 (162-42-292) attack percentage . . . Lee Meyer has also performed well from the attack line, leading the team with 198 kills for a 2.96 kills-per-game average . . . At the net, Gasparovic leads the team with a 1.28 blocks-per-game average . . . Ethan Pheister has set the BSU offense to a .224 rate of success this season, while adding 1.67 digs, 0.32 aces and 0.75 blocks per game . . . Billy Ebel holds down the backcourt with a 3.08 digs-per-game average.
SCOUTING CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE: The Matadors enter the week with a 15-6 record after posting a 3-0 (30-22, 30-27, 30-22) victory over No. 12 Loyola in its last outing Saturday, March 13 . . . CSUN enters the week ranked third in the nation in the latest AVCA Division I-II Men's Volleyball Coaches Top 15 poll . . . Theo Edwards paces the Northridge attack with a 3.48 kills-per-game average, while Kevin McKniff leads the Matadors offense and ranks third nationally with a .495 (232-38-392) attack percentage . . . At the net, McKniff owns a team-best 1.06 blocks-per-game average . . . Matt Staker has set the CSUN offense to a .297 rate of success this season, while adding 1.73 digs per game . . . Ali'i Keohohou is Northridge's top defender with a 2.82 digs-per-game average.
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE: Cal State Northridge holds a 10-5 advantage in the all-time series versus Ball State, including wins in three of its previous four matches in Muncie . . . The last time the two teams played was in 2000, when CSUN visited Muncie for a pair of matches . . . In the first, Ball State scored a 3-1 (14-16, 15-13, 15-6, 15-7) victory Feb. 11 . . . The following day, the Matadors rebounded with a 3-0 (15-5, 15-13, 17-16) sweep of the Cardinals.
OFFENSE ROLLS AT GEORGE MASON: In last Friday's four-set win at George Mason, the Ball State offense exploded for a season-best .340 (71-21-147) attack percentage . . . Junior middle attacker J.D. Gasparovic led the offensive explosion with a match-best and season-high .786 (11-0-14) hitting mark, while freshman outside attacker Larry Wrather added a career-best .481 (16-3-27) rate of success . . . All six of BSU's starters in the match hit above .222.
SOLID WEEKEND FOR GASPAROVIC: In addition to his match-best .786 hitting effort at George Mason, J.D. Gasparovic hit an impressive .636 (8-1-11) in Saturday's sweep of Rutgers-Newark . . . Gasparovic finished the week with a .720 (19-1-25) attack percentage . . . Over the last eight matches, Gasparovic is hitting .489 (83-16-137), with .400-or-better marks six times.
MORE FROM THE MIDDLE: After collecting seven total blocks (one solo & six assists) in BSU's two matches last weekend, J.D. Gasparovic enters Friday's match versus No. 3 Cal State Northridge tied for 11th in program history with 305 career block assists . . . In addition, his 1.36 blocking average is seventh in school annals, while his 346 total blocks are 16th.
WRATHER LIGHTS UP GEORGE MASON: Following an explosive performance at No. 2 Pepperdine (March 11), freshman outside attacker Larry Wrather turned in another stellar effort at George Mason last Friday . . . In the contest, he smashed a team-high and career-best 16 kills while adding a career-high 10 digs for his first career double-double . . . The freshman also scored a career-best three solo blocks, while hitting for a career-high .481 (16-3-27) rate of success.
EBEL COLLECTS THIRD DEFENSIVE HONOR: After collecting a match-best 17 digs at George Mason and a match-high nine digs at Rutgers-Newark, BSU senior libero Billy Ebel was named the MIVA Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season . . . Ebel also picked up the award during the first two weeks of the season.
EBEL CRACKS THE TOP 20: With his 26 digs last weekend, Billy Ebel moved to 18th in program history with 574 career digs . . . With double-digit digs in 11 matches so far this season, Ebel has raised his career total in that category to 26, which ties him for eighth in program history with Evan Berg (2003-2006).
MEYER REGAINS TEAM LEAD: With 14 kills in each of BSU's two matches last weekend, junior outside attacker Lee Meyer reclaimed the team lead with 198 kills this season . . . Meyer has also posted double-digit kills in a team-best 11 matches this season, and 14 times over his career.
MATCH-WINNER: With his match-winning ace Saturday at Rutgers-Newark, senior setter Ethan Pheister raised his career ace total to 91, which ranks him ninth in program history . . . Pheister also enters the week ranked fifth in program history with 3,643 career assists . . . He needs 198 more to pass John Shondell's (1989, 1991-93) career total of 3,840 for fourth on BSU's all-time list.
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.
