Ball State University Athletics
WVB Battles WMU & NIU For First Place In MAC This Week
November 02, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
►ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Ball State women's volleyball team ends the road portion of its 2011 regular season schedule this weekend with matches at Western Michigan (Friday at 7 p.m.) and Northern Illinois (Saturday at 7 p.m. CT) . . . Both WMU and NIU trail the Cardinals by one match in the MAC West Division and MAC overall standings.
►FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live stats and live video will be available for both of Ball State's matches this weekend . . . Fans can follow Friday's action versus Western Michigan with live stats and live video through Ball State All Access . . . Saturday, Northern Illinois will offer live stats through GameTracker and live video through its All Access package.
►WEST VS. EAST: After Saturday's win over Buffalo the Cardinals improved to 6-0 versus teams from the MAC East Division . . . In fact, the MAC West Division holds a 29-3 advantage in interdivisional play so far this season, with only Ohio and Bowling Green picking up wins out of their division . . . Overall, the West Division has a 88-22 set record versus the East Division, including 19 sweeps.
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: After posting a 2-0 record last week, the Cardinals enter Friday's match at Western Michigan with a 785-497-2 (.612) all-time record, including a 46-8 (.852) mark under second-year head coach Steve Shondell.
►IN THE MAC: With a 3-1 victory at Ohio (Oct. 14), Ball State became just the second women's volleyball program in league history to collect 300 Mid-American Conference victories . . . BSU enters the week with a 305-146 (.676) all-time record in conference matches . . . BSU's record is the second-best in league history, trailing only Friday's opponent Western Michigan which owns a 315-136 (.698) all-time league mark . . . Northern Illinois enters the week with a 186-114 (.620) all-time league record, which ranks third in MAC annals.
►WHAT A START: Ball State's 22-3 record is the best in program history through the first 25 matches of a season . . . Prior to this season, BSU had gone 21-4 three times (1993, 2000 and 2010) . . . The Cardinals' best record through the first 27 matches is 23-4 set by the 1993 and 2010 teams.
►HOME SWEET HOME: The Ball State women's volleyball team extended its homecourt winning streak to 23 matches with last Saturday's win over Buffalo . . . 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 fourth-longest active streak in the nation behind Cincinnati (46), Nebraska (32) and Texas (25).
►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 206-56 (.786) all-time record in matches played in Worthen Arena, including a 156-30 (.839) mark versus Mid-American Conference teams.
►IN THE AVCA POLL: The Ball State women's volleyball team received eight votes in the latest AVCA Division I Coaches Poll . . . It is the second appearance for the Cardinals in the receiving votes section of the AVCA Coaches Poll this season . . . BSU has never been ranked in the AVCA's Top 25, but was the first team not ranked (26th) after defeating then-No. 8 Pacific Sept. 9. 1995 . . . Ball State and No. 11 Purdue are the only teams from the state of Indiana to receive votes in this week's poll.
►LOCKED IN: The Ball State women's volleyball team locked up one of eight spots in the 2011 Mid-American Conference Tournament with its Oct. 22 win over Bowling Green . . . This season, the top eight teams based on conference winning percentage (regardless of division) advance to the tournament which runs Nov. 18-20 at SPIRE, part of the GaREAT family, located in Geneva, Ohio.
►SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: The Cardinals enter the week with a 22-3 record after scoring wins at Toledo (3-2) and over Buffalo (3-0) last week . . . Kara Bates leads the team with a 3.09 kills-per-set average, while Kelsey Brandl is second at 2.83 . . . Brandl leads the team's attackers with a .341 hitting percentage, while posting a team-high 38 aces . . . Mindy Marx is BSU's top blocker, averaging 0.96 blocks per set . . . Brittany McGinnis and Jacqui Seidel have combined to set the BSU offense to a .248 hitting mark this season, dishing out 9.08 and 2.49 assists per set, respectively . . . Catie Fredrich leads the team with a 4.65 digs-per-set average . . . On defense, Ball State is holding its opponents to a league-low .170 hitting mark.
►BALL STATE VS. WESTERN MICHIGAN: With wins in the last two meetings, the Cardinals have evened the all-time series versus the Broncos at 38-38 . . . In the first meeting this year, BSU scored a 3-1 (25-21, 25-19, 20-25, 25-19) home win over WMU Oct. 1 . . . Prior to BSU's two wins, the Broncos had won the previous seven matches in the series . . . No one on the active roster has won a match at Western Michigan, as BSU's last victory in Kalamazoo came Oct. 28, 2006 . . . BSU is 13-21 all-time in matches played on Western Michigan's home court.
►SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN: The Broncos enter Friday's match with a 21-5 overall record and 10-2 MAC mark after scoring road wins at Central Michigan (3-1) and Eastern Michigan (3-1) last weekend . . . Jessica Brown leads WMU with a 3.13 kills-per-set average, while Ali Gossen and Ashley Turnage tie for second at 2.83 . . . Turnage paces the Broncos' attackers with a .331 hitting percentage, while Terin Norris has set the WMU offense to a .244 rate of success, averaging 11.76 assists per set . . . Lena Oliver has a team-best 5.92 digs-per-set average . . . Western Michigan's opponents are hitting for a .187 rate of success.
►BALL STATE VS. NORTHERN ILLINOIS: The Cardinals hold a 27-25 lead in the all-time series versus the Huskies, including wins in the last five meetings . . . In the first meeting this season, BSU earned a hard-fought 3-2 (25-21, 19-25, 11-25, 25-23, 15-9) victory at Worthen Arena Sept. 30 . . . While BSU has won the last three matches played at Northern Illinois' Victor E. Court, the Cardinals are 8-15 all-time in matches played in DeKalb.
►SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS: The Huskies enter the week with a 21-5 overall record and a 10-2 MAC mark earning road wins at Eastern Michigan (3-1) and Central Michigan (3-1) last weekend . . . Lauren Wixinski leads all NCAA Division I players with a 5.50 kills-per-set average, while Allison McGlaughlin is second on the team at 2.92 . . . Sarah Angelos owns a team-best .343 hitting percentage, while Kristin Hoffman has set the NIU offense to a .278 rate of success by averaging 12.34 assists per set . . . Amber Walker has a team-best 3.86 digs-per-set average . . . Northern Illinois' opponents are hitting for a .215 rate of success.
►FOR THE RECORD: Ball State's current 22-3 overall record is the eighth-best record in the nation among the 327 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball programs . . . The only teams with better records are: No. 12 Northern Iowa (24-1), No. 8 Hawaii (24-1), No. 5 Illinois (21-2), No. 2 Nebraska (18-2), Western Kentucky (25-3), Samford (23-3) and No. 21 San Diego (23-3).
►THE WIN TOTAL: The Cardinals reached 20 wins in a season for second year in a row and the 15th time in program history with its 3-0 sweep of Bowling Green Oct. 22 . . . BSU's 22 wins entering the week are the sixth-most wins in the nation.
►BRANDL IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: Senior middle blocker Kelsey Brandl enters the week ranked 41st nationally with a 0.41 aces-per-set average . . . Her .341 hitting percentage ranks 77th, while her 3.70 points-per-set average is 204th.
►MORE ON THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: Four other Cardinals appear in the national rankings this week, with Catie Fredrich ranking 78th in digs (4.65), Jennifer Boyd ranking 134th in hitting percentage (.316), Brittany McGinnis ranking 173rd in assists (9.08) and Kara Bates ranking 242nd in kills (3.09) . . . BSU's 13.91 kills-per-set average is 35th among 322 ranked teams as is its .248 hitting mark.
►HITTING THE MARK: Kelsey Brandl enters the week ranked third in program history with a .344 career hitting percentage at Ball State . . . Brandl also ranks 15th in BSU annals with 838 career kills, 18th with 252 career total blocks and 20th with 209 career block assists . . . Brandl is in her third season at Ball State after transferring from Cincinnati . . . Including her one season at UC, Brandl has 968 kills, a .330 hitting percentage and 305 total blocks over her collegiate career . . . She has also served up 109 career aces, with 85 coming in her three seasons at Ball State.
►HITTING AT A NEAR-RECORD PACE: Ball State enters the week with a .248 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.
►BOYD VERSUS THE MAC: Senior middle blocker Jennifer Boyd has stepped up her play in league action, ranking first on the team and third in the MAC in league-only matches with a .372 attack percentage . . . She ranks second on the team with double-figure kills in six of the 11 league matches she has played in this season, while posting a 2.38 kills-per-set average . . . She has hit .300-or-better in eight conference matches, while racking up at least four kills in all 11 league matches she has seen action . . . She also ranks second on the team with 28 total blocks in MAC action.
►DEPTH ON THE LEFT: Ball State's offense has been helped out by its ability to rely on three different left side hitters over the course of the season . . . Junior transfer Kara Bates currently has the hot hand, racking up a team-best 26 kills last weekend . . . Bates enters the week ranked ninth in the MAC with a 3.09 kills-per-set average . . . Sophomore Kylee Baker turned in one of her strongest offensive performances of the season with 13 kills and a .481 (13-0-27) hitting mark against Buffalo and leads BSU's left sides with five double-doubles . . . Sophomore Whitney Heeres helped rally the Cardinals at Toledo last Thursday, blasting 10 kills in the victory . . . Heeres has collected double-digit kills in eight matches so far this season.
►FROM THE SERVICE LINE: With eight more service aces, compared to just 13 errors last week, the Ball State women's volleyball team continues to be one of the top serving teams in the MAC, with a .938 service percentage . . . Only Western Michigan (.953) has a better serving percentage . . . BSU's 130 aces rank third in the league, while its 132 service errors are the second least . . . Overall, BSU's .984 ace-to-error ratio is the best in the MAC, with WMU being second at .885 (92-to-104).
►MORE FROM THE SERVICE LINE: Individually, sophomore libero Catie Fredrich paces all league servers with more than 125 attempts with a .991 serving percentage . . . In 347 service attempts, Fredrich had racked up 14 aces while committing just three errors . . . The MAC's second-best server so far this season is Western Michigan's Jessica Brown with a .986 percentage, having 14 aces and five errors in 369 attempts . . . Over her career, Fredrich has a .989 career service percentage with 32 aces to just eight errors in 753 attempts.
►FREDRICH ON D: A four-time MAC West Division Defensive Player of the Week selection this season, Catie Fredrich has racked up double-digit dig totals in each of BSU's last 24 matches . . . She has recorded a career-high 31 digs in two matches (at EMU, Oct. 8 and vs. Miami, Oct. 21), while adding 30 digs in BSU's home win over Western Michigan (Oct. 1) . . . She has led the Cardinals in digs in 21 of the last 22 matches, while earning match-high honors in 16 of the contests.
►DISHING THE ROCK: With her third assist versus Murray State (Sept. 3), senior setter Brittany McGinnis moved into fourth in program history for career assists . . . Her 4,187 career assists are 217 shy of Wendy Carter's (1993-96) career total of 4,404 which ranks third in program history . . . In addition, McGinnis' 9.74 career assists-per-set average is sixth in BSU annals.
►MORE ON MCGINNIS: Brittany McGinnis has started 114 of 118 matches over her career, while playing in 430 of a possible 441 sets . . . Her 987 career digs rank 13th in program history, while her 40 matches with double-figure digs is tied for 15th . . . She has also served up 107 career aces, which is 13th in BSU annals.
►SCHEMBRA IN THE RANKINGS TOO: Senior defensive specialist Kaylee Schembra is also climbing her way up the BSU record books, moving into 18th in program history with 867 career digs . . . She has tallied double-figure dig totals in four of BSU's last nine matches, giving her double-digit digs in 38 career matches to rank 17th in program history.
►12 IS THE MARX: Sophomore middle blocker Mindy Marx tied her career-high with 12 kills last Saturday versus Buffalo . . . Marx has tallied double-figure kill totals three times in her career, with all three being a career-high 12 blasts.
►OFFENSE DOMINATES KENT STATE: Led by sophomore setter Jacqui Seidel, the Cardinals hit for a season-best .390 mark in the Oct. 15 win at Kent State . . . The effort is BSU's best since it connected for a .423 effort in a sweep of Chicago State Sept. 11, 2009.
