Ball State University Athletics
WVB Visits Ohio Friday For Battle Of MAC Leaders
October 11, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
►ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The MAC West Division leading Ball State women's volleyball team opens the weekend Friday when it travels to Athens, Ohio, to battle MAC East Division leader Ohio in a 7 p.m. first serve . . . Saturday, the Cardinals will visit Kent State for another cross-division matchup starting at 7:30 p.m.
►FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live Stats will be available for both matches this weekend, while Kent State will also offer free streaming video of Saturday's match.
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: After posting a 1-1 record last week, the Cardinals enter Friday's match at Ohio with a 779-497-2 (.610) all-time record, including a 40-8 (.833) mark under second-year head coach Steve Shondell.
►IN THE MAC: The Cardinals enter the week with a 299-146 (.672) all-time record in conference matches . . . BSU's record is the second-best in league history, trailing only Western Michigan which owns a 309-136 (.694) all-time league mark . . . Ohio enters the week ranked sixth with a 230-215 (.517) record, while Kent State is 10th all-time at 155-290 (.348).
►WHAT A START: Ball State's 16-3 record ties with the 1973 and 2000 squads for the best 19-match record to start a season in program history . . . Earlier this year, BSU's 15-2 record was the best in program history through the first 17 matches . . . BSU's best record through the first 21 matches is 17-4 set by the 1973, 1974, 1993, 2000 and 2010 squads.
►HOME SWEET HOME: The Ball State women's volleyball team extended its homecourt winning streak to 20 matches with its win over Western Michigan (Oct. 1) . . . The streak is the second-longest in program history, trailing only the 42-match winning streak from Sept. 9, 1999 - Nov. 20, 2001 . . . In addition, the streak is the fifth-longest active streak in the nation behind Cincinnati (42), Nebraska (30), Texas (22) and San Diego (21) . . . Central Arkansas' 31-match homecourt winning streak was snapped last Wednesday (Oct. 5) by Northwestern State, which is coached by former Ball State women's volleyball assistants Hugh Hernesman and Stephanie Hernesman . . . BSU four-year letterwinner Elaina Kakatolis (2006-2009) is a graduate assistant coach at NSU.
►MORE FROM THE NEST: The Aug. 28 win over IPFW in the championship match of the 2011 Ball State Active Ankle Challenge was the 200th victory for the Cardinals in Worthen Arena . . . BSU owns a 203-56 (.784) all-time record in matches played in Worthen Arena, including a 153-30 (.836) mark versus Mid-American Conference teams.
►SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: The Cardinals enter the week with a 16-3 (5-1 MAC) record after winning at Central Michigan (3-0) and losing at Eastern Michigan (3-1) last week . . . Kara Bates leads the team with a 3.03 kills-per-set average, while Kelsey Brandl is second at 2.89 . . . Brandl leads the team's attackers with a .349 hitting percentage, while posting a team-high 32 aces . . . Mindy Marx is BSU's top blocker, averaging 0.98 blocks per set . . . Brittany McGinnis and Jacqui Seidel have combined to set the BSU offense to a .246 hitting mark this season, dishing out 9.49 and 1.96 assists per set, respectively . . . Catie Fredrich leads the team with a 4.49 digs-per-set average . . . On defense, Ball State is holding its opponents to a .173 hitting mark.
►BALL STATE VS. OHIO: The Cardinals own a 32-13 advantage in the all-time series versus Ohio . . . In the lone meeting last year, BSU earned a 3-2 (25-14, 22-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-9) win at Worthen Arena (Oct. 15) to snap an 11-match Bobcats winning streak . . . Prior to OU's streak, the Cardinals had won the previous 26 matches . . . Ball State holds a 15-5 advantage in matches played in Athens.
►SCOUTING OHIO: The Bobcats enter the week with a 14-6 (6-0 MAC) record after topping Akron (3-0) and Buffalo (3-1) last weekend . . . Kelly Lamberti leads the team with a 3.37 kills-per-set average, while Chelsea Bilger is second at 2.58 . . . Katie Post paces Ohio's attackers with a .286 hitting percentage, while Bailey Karst and Leah Petrovich have set the Ohio offense to a .182 rate of success, averaging 8.26 and 4.28 assists per set, respectively . . . Mollie Geski has a team-best 3.63 digs-per-set average . . . Ohio's opponents are hitting for a .169 rate of success.
►BALL STATE VS. KENT STATE: The Cardinals hold a 35-11 lead in the all-time series versus Kent State . . . BSU snapped a four-match losing streak to the Golden Flashes with a 3-1 (25-14, 14-25, 25-15, 25-20) win at Worthen Arena in the lone meeting last season (Oct. 16) . . . BSU had won nine of the previous 11 matches before KSU's winning streak . . . Ball State holds a 13-6 lead in matches played in Kent, Ohio.
►SCOUTING KENT STATE: The Golden Flashes enter the week with an 8-13 (1-5 MAC) record after recording their first MAC win at Buffalo (3-2) and suffering a loss to Akron (3-0) last weekend . . . Maigan Larson leads the Flashes with a 3.52 kills-per-set average, while Kathy Krupa is second with 2.37 . . . Krupa has a team-best .289 hitting percentage, while Aleksandra Nowak has set the KSU offense to a .202 rate of success by averaging 9.37 assists per set . . . Brooke Ziegler has a team-best 2.69 digs-per-set average . . . Kent State's opponents are hitting for a .223 rate of success.
►DOMINATING ON D: Sophomore libero Catie Fredrich has dominated the league in the back court over the last four league matches, racking up a MAC-best totals in digs (89) and digs-per-set average (5.56) on her way to a pair of MAC Defensive Player of the Week awards . . . EMU libero Haley Stein is second during the same span with 74 digs and a 4.93 average in league-only matches.
►SATURDAY SPECIAL: In each of the past two Saturdays Catie Fredrich has collected career-high dig totals . . . In the home win over Western Michigan (Oct. 1), Fredrich collected a then-career-best 30 digs, only to follow with a 31-dig effort the next Saturday at Eastern Michigan (Oct. 8) . . . Fredrich is averaging 5.06 digs-per-set on Saturday which trails only her Thursday average of (5.75) . . . Her other daily averages are: Tuesday (3.33), Friday (3.76) and Sunday (3.75).
►DIGGING IT UP: Catie Fredrich is taking control in the Ball State backcourt, racking up double-digit digs in BSU's last 18 matches . . . She has led the Cardinals in digs in 15 of the last 16 matches, while earning match-high honors in 13 of those contests.
►BRANDL IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: Senior middle blocker Kelsey Brandl enters the week ranked 28th nationally with a 0.46 aces-per-set average . . . Her .349 hitting percentage ranks 64th, while her 3.81 points-per-set average is 174th.
►MORE ON THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: Five other Cardinals appear in the national rankings this week, with Catie Fredrich ranking 101st in digs (4.49), Brittany McGinnis ranking 136th in assists (9.49), Mindy Marx ranking 176th in blocks (0.98), Jennifer Boyd ranking 233rd in hitting percentage (.291) and Kara Bates ranking 246th in kills (3.03).
►HITTING THE MARK: Kelsey Brandl enters the week ranked third in program history with a .346 career hitting percentage at Ball State . . . With her 20 kills last week, Brandl also moved into 19th in BSU annals with 780 career kills . . . Her 79 aces, 200 block assists and 238 total blocks are also close to breaking into the top 20 on BSU's career charts . . . Brandl is in her third season at Ball State after transferring from Cincinnati . . . Including her one season at UC, Brandl has 910 kills, a .331 hitting percentage and 103 aces over her collegiate career.
►FROM THE SERVICE LINE: With 11 more service aces, compared to just seven errors last week, the Ball State women's volleyball team continue to be one of the top serving teams in the MAC, with a .934 service percentage . . . Only Western Michigan (.948) has a better serving percentage . . . BSU's 102 aces rank third in the league, while its 106 service errors are the third least . . . Overall, BSU's .962 ace-to-error ratio is the best in the MAC, with WMU being second at .881 (74-to-84) . . . Individually, Catie Fredrich is BSU's top server, with a .993 serving percentage, hiving posting just two service errors in 272 attempts while recording 11 aces.
►DISHING THE ROCK: With her third assist versus Murray State (Sept. 3), Brittany McGinnis moved into fourth in program history for career assists . . . Her 4,016 career assists are 388 shy of Wendy Carter's (1993-96) career total of 4,404 which ranks third in program history . . . In addition, McGinnis' 9.84 career assists-per-set average is sixth in BSU annals.
►MORE ON MCGINNIS: Brittany McGinnis has started 110 of 112 matches over her career, while playing in 408 of a possible 417 sets . . . Her 925 career digs rank 15th in program history, while her 37 matches with double-figure digs is 16th . . . She has also served up 103 career aces, which is 14th in BSU annals.
►CARDINALS CONNECTING AT NEAR-RECORD PACE: Ball State enters the week with a .246 team hitting percentage . . . If the season were to end today, it would be the fifth-best single-season hitting effort in program history . . . The best season hitting mark in BSU annals is .262 set by the 1998 squad.
