Ball State University Athletics
WVB Closes MAC Play With Home Matches vs. EMU & CMU
November 08, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
►MAC PLAY COMES TO AN END: The Ball State women's volleyball team will close the Mid-American Conference portion of its 2011 regular season schedule this week with matches versus Eastern Michigan (Thursday) and Central Michigan (Saturday) . . . Both contests are scheduled for 7 p.m. first serves with Saturday serving as BSU's senior day.
►FOLLOW THE ACTION: The Ball State Sports Network will broadcast Thursday's match versus Eastern Michigan live on WIPB in Muncie . . . Chris Taylor will cover the play-by-play, while Rhonda (Gardemann) Murr, a four-year letterwinner for the Ball State women's volleyball team, will provide the color commentary . . . Fans can also watch the BSSN broadcast live on ballstatesports.com with their Ball State All Access pass . . . Saturday's match will also be streamed online through Ball State All Access . . . In addition, Sports Link Radio on WCRD 91.3 FM will cover both matches with Adam Fox, Donnie Kolakowski and Bryan Lord bringing fans the action live from Worthen Arena . . . Both broadcast can be heard free of charge on ballstatesports.com . . . Live stats will also be available for both matches.
►WEST VS. EAST: Ball State went 6-0 versus teams from the MAC East Division this season . . . In fact, the MAC West Division holds a 29-5 advantage in interdivisional play so far this season, with only Ohio (3), Bowling Green (1) and Kent State (1) picking up wins out of their division . . . Overall, the West Division has a 92-28 set record versus the East Division, including 19 sweeps.
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: After posting an 0-2 record last week, the Cardinals enter Thursday's match versus Eastern Michigan with a 785-499-2 (.611) all-time record, including a 46-10 (.821) 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 305-148 (.673) all-time record in conference matches . . . BSU's record is the second-best in league history, trailing only Western Michigan which owns a 317-136 (.700) all-time league mark . . . Eastern Michigan is eighth all-time in league play at 204-249 (.450), just behind Central Michigan which is seventh at 233-220 (.514).
►THE RECORD: Ball State was the first league team to reach 20 wins this season, accomplishing the task Oct. 22 versus Bowling Green . . . BSU's 22-5 overall record ties as the third-best in program history through 27 matches, trailing only the 23-4 marks of the 1993 and 2010 squads.
►HOME SWEET HOME: The Ball State women's volleyball team extended its homecourt winning streak to 23 matches with its Oct. 29 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 (48), Nebraska (34) 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.
►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 . . . BSU has also locked up a top four seed in the tournament, and can finish anywhere from 1-4 depending on this weekend's results . . . 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 22-5 (11-3 MAC) record after suffering road losses at Western Michigan (3-2) and Northern Illinois (3-0) last weekend . . . Kara Bates leads the team with a 3.15 kills-per-set average, while Kelsey Brandl is second at 2.73 . . . Brandl leads the team's attackers with a .328 hitting percentage, while posting a team-high 39 aces . . . Mindy Marx is BSU's top blocker, averaging 1.00 blocks per set . . . Brittany McGinnis and Jacqui Seidel have combined to set the BSU offense to a .243 hitting mark this season, dishing out 9.20 and 2.49 assists per set, respectively . . . Catie Fredrich leads the team with a 4.64 digs-per-set average . . . On defense, Ball State is holding its opponents to a league-low .175 hitting mark.
►BALL STATE VS. EASTERN MICHIGAN: Ball State holds a 45-21 lead in the all-time series versus Eastern Michigan after the Eagles scored a 3-1 (25-20, 25-23, 16-25, 28-26) home victory in the first meeting this season (Oct. 8) . . . Ball State holds a 26-7 advantage in matches played in Muncie, including a 20-2 edge in Worthen Arena.
►SCOUTING EASTERN MICHIGAN: The Eagles enter the week with a 20-9 (8-6 MAC) record after defeating Central Michigan at home (3-1) and losing at Kent State (3-2) last week . . . Rachel Iaquaniello leads the Eagles with a 3.96 kills-per-set average, while Paige Roback is second with 2.45 . . . Kristen Baker has a team-best .276 hitting percentage, while Ashley Mason has set the EMU offense to a .199 rate of success by averaging 10.27 assists per set . . . Haley Stein has a team-best 5.43 digs-per-set average . . . Eastern Michigan's opponents are hitting for a .172 rate of success.
►BALL STATE VS. CENTRAL MICHIGAN: Ball State maintains a 37-28 advantage in the all-time series versus Central Michigan, including wins in the last four matches . . . In the first meeting this season, BSU scored a 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-14) sweep at CMU (Oct. 7) . . . The Cardinals are 18-11 all-time versus the Chippewas in Muncie, including a 14-3 mark in Worthen Arena.
►SCOUTING CENTRAL MICHIGAN: The Chippewas enter the week with a 14-11 (7-7 MAC) record after suffering road losses at Eastern Michigan (3-1) and Ohio (3-2) last week . . . Kaitlyn McIntyre leads the team with a 3.22 kills-per-set average, while Kaitlyn Schultz is second at 2.82 . . . Schultz paces CMU's attackers with a .396 hitting percentage, while Kelly Maxwell has set the Central Michigan offense to a .219 rate of success, averaging 10.65 assists per set . . . Jenna Coates has a team-best 4.41 digs-per-set average . . . CMU's opponents are hitting for a .182 rate of success.
►FOR THE RECORD: Ball State's current 22-3 overall record is the 23rd-best record in the nation among the 327 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball programs . . . BSU's 22 wins entering the week tie as the 12th-best win total in the nation this season.
►BRANDL IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: Senior middle blocker Kelsey Brandl enters the week ranked 54th nationally with a 0.39 aces-per-set average . . . Her .328 hitting percentage ranks 103rd, while her 3.57 points-per-set average is 242nd.
►MORE ON THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: Four other Cardinals appear in the national rankings this week, with Catie Fredrich ranking 86th in digs (4.64), Jennifer Boyd ranking 153rd in hitting percentage (.310), Brittany McGinnis ranking 168th in assists (9.20) and Kara Bates ranking 225th in kills (3.15) . . . BSU's 13.82 kills-per-set average is 42nd among 322 ranked teams, while its .243 hitting mark is 47th . . . BSU also ranks 98th in digs at 15.78.
►HITTING THE MARK: Kelsey Brandl enters the week ranked third in program history with a .339 career hitting percentage at Ball State . . . Brandl also ranks 15th in BSU annals with 851 career kills, 18th with 258 career total blocks and 20th with 215 career block assists . . . Brandl is in her third season at Ball State after transferring from Cincinnati . . . Including her one season at UC, Brandl has 981 kills, a .327 hitting percentage and 311 total blocks over her collegiate career . . . She has also served up 110 career aces, with 86 coming in her three seasons at Ball State.
►HITTING AT A NEAR-RECORD PACE: Ball State enters the week with a .243 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 fifth in the MAC in league-only matches with a .358 attack percentage . . . She ranks second on the team with double-figure kills in six of the 13 league matches she has played in this season, while posting a 2.24 kills-per-set average . . . She has hit .300-or-better in nine conference matches, while ranking second on the team with 29 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 30 kills last weekend . . . Bates enters the week ranked sixth in the MAC with a 3.48 kills-per-set average . . . Sophomore Kylee Baker tallied 14 digs at Western Michigan, while posting her sixth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 10 digs at Northern Illinois . . . Sophomore Whitney Heeres tallied six kills against the Broncos and has posted double-digit kills in eight matches this season.
►MORE ON BATES: Kara Bates has found a home in the Ball State lineup over the last three weeks, blasting double-figure kills in five of BSU's last six matches . . . Friday at Western Michigan, Bates smashed a career-high tying 20 kills, while adding a career-best seven block assists . . . Over the last six matches, Bates has tallied 82 kills for a 3.73 kill-per-set average . . . Kelsey Brandl is second over the span with 52 kills and a 2.26 average . . . Bates ranks second on the squad with double-figure kills in 14 matches this season.
►FROM THE SERVICE LINE: With six more service aces, compared to 15 errors last week, the Ball State women's volleyball team continues to be one of the top serving teams in the MAC, with a .936 service percentage . . . Only Western Michigan (.954) has a better serving percentage . . . BSU's 136 aces rank third in the league, while its 147 service errors are the third least . . . Overall, BSU's .925 ace-to-error ratio is the best in the MAC, with WMU being second at .866 (97-to-112).
►MORE FROM THE SERVICE LINE: Individually, sophomore libero Catie Fredrich paces all league servers with more than 125 attempts with a .992 serving percentage . . . In 380 service attempts, Fredrich had racked up 15 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 six errors in 418 attempts . . . Over her career, Fredrich has a .990 career service percentage with 33 aces to just eight errors in 786 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 26 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 23 of the last 24 matches, while earning match-high honors in 18 of the contests.
►DIGGING DEEP: Catie Fredrich enters the week with 721 career digs and needs just 87 more to break into the top 20 in program history . . . She has collected 464 digs so far this season which is the 10th-best single-season dig total in program history . . . Her 36 career matches with double-figure digs ranks 17th in program history, while her eight career matches with 20-or-more digs is tied for eighth.
►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 4,272 career assists are 132 shy of Wendy Carter's (1993-96) career total of 4,404 which ranks third in program history . . . In addition, McGinnis' 9.75 career assists-per-set average is sixth in BSU annals.
►ONE OF THREE: With her 13th dig at Western Michigan last Friday, Brittany McGinnis became the 13th player in program history to record 1,000 career digs . . . She finished the weekend with 22 digs to raise her career total to 1,009 . . . McGinnis is one of just three players in program history to record over 1,000 assists and 1,000 digs, joining Emily Sallee (1997-2000) and Tiffany Stevens (1992-95) . . . Sallee had 6,408 assists and 1,120 digs over her career, while Stevens recorded 1,597 assists and 1,087 digs.
►MORE ON MCGINNIS: Brittany McGinnis has started 114 of 118 matches over her career, while playing in 438 of a possible 449 sets . . . Her 41 matches with double-digit digs rank 15th in program history, while she has tallied 40 double-doubles over her career. . . She has also served up 109 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 17th in program history with 880 career digs . . . She has tallied double-figure dig totals in five of BSU's last 11 matches, giving her double-digit digs in 39 career matches to rank 17th in program history.
►THE GRANT FACTOR: Sophomore transfer right side hitter Lauren Grant turned in the best weekend of her career last week, ranking second on the team with 23 kills and hitting a team-best .380 (23-4-50) . . . At Western Michigan, Grant blasted a career-best 15 kills on a career-high 35 swings for a .343 hitting percentage . . . She followed with a career-best .467 (8-1-15) hitting mark at Northern Illinois . . . In MAC play, Grant ranks second on the team with a .303 hitting mark . . . She has hit .300-or-better in seven league matches, while tallying four-or-more kills in 11 of the 14 matches.
