Ball State University Athletics
No. 13 Men's Volleyball Opens League Play Friday
February 10, 2011 | Men's Volleyball
CARDINALS OPEN LEAGUE PLAY: The 13th-ranked Ball State men's volleyball team opens Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association play this weekend with matches at No. 14 Lewis (Friday, 7 p.m. CT) and at IPFW (Saturday, 7 p.m.).
HOME SWEEP HOME: In three home matches this season, the Ball State men's volleyball team has yet to drop a set . . . After almost a month on the road, the Cardinals returned to Worthen Arena last weekend to pick up sweeps over Pfeiffer and Limestone . . . In its season-opener (Jan. 7), Ball State scored a 3-0 home court win over Lindenwood . . . BSU is 2-1 in true road matches this season, and 0-2 in neutral contests.
IN THE POLLS: Thanks to a pair of sweeps last weekend, Ball State climbed one spot to 13th in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . BSU has been ranked as high as 12th this season (Jan. 17 & Jan. 24) . . . BSU has also received votes in the Asics/Volleyball Magazine Men's Division I-II Top 10 Poll twice this season (Jan. 17 & Jan. 24).
SCOUTING NO. 13 BALL STATE: The Cardinals enter the week with a 5-3 record after scoring 3-0 wins over Pfeiffer (25-14, 25-12, 25-22) and Limestone (25-19, 25-14, 25-15) last weekend . . . Sophomore Larry Wrather leads the Ball State attack with a 2.90 kills-per-set average, while sophomore Greg Herceg is second at 2.50 . . . Freshman Graham McIlvaine has set BSU to a .279 rate of success this season, handing out 10.17 assists-per-set . . . Defensively, redshirt freshman Tommy Rouse leads BSU and the MIVA with a 2.93 digs-per-set average, while senior Anders Nelson paces the Cardinals at the net with a 1.26 blocks-per-set average . . . BSU is limiting its opponents to a .203 hitting mark this season.
SERIES VS. LEWIS: Ball State holds a 27-16 edge in the all-time series versus the Flyers after the teams split a pair of matches last season . . . Lewis opened the season series with a 3-2 (30-23, 27-30, 34-32, 26-30, 15-13) win at Worthen Arena Feb. 26 . . . The Cardinals returned the favor with a 3-2 (30-24, 31-29, 28-30, 23-30, 15-13) win at Neil Carey Arena April 6 . . . Overall, the Cardinals have won 12 of the last 14 meetings and own a 10-7 record in Romeoville, Ill.
SCOUTING LEWIS: The Flyers enter Friday's match with a 7-2 overall record and ranked 14th in the latest AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . On Tuesday, Lewis scored a 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-18) win over the Milwaukee School of Engineering . . . Last Friday, the Flyers suffered a 3-1 (25-17, 25-19, 20-25, 25-17) setback to No. 4 Stanford . . . Jay Petty leads the team with a 3.61 kills-per-set average, while Ian Karbiener is second at 3.46 . . . BJ Boldog has set the Flyers offense to a .329 rate of success this season, handing out 11.56 assists-per-set . . . Defensively, Roberto Torres leads the team with a 2.18 digs-per-set average, while Matt Gallik has a team-best 1.28 blocks-per-set average . . . Lewis is limiting its opponents to a .208 hitting percentage this season.
SERIES VS. IPFW: The Cardinals hold a 64-25 advantage in the all-time series versus IPFW, including seven straight wins . . . Last season, the Cardinals swept the regular season series and earned an MIVA Tournament Quarterfinal win over the Mastodons . . . In the regular season, BSU rallied for a 3-2 (28-30, 30-32, 30-22, 30-20, 15-6) home win (Feb. 25), before sweeping (30-24, 30-26, 30-24) IPFW on the road (April 3) . . . In the MIVA Tournament, Ball State scored a 3-0 (30-28, 30-23, 30-22) win at Worthen Arena (April 24) . . . BSU is 29-12 all-time in matches played in Fort Wayne.
SCOUTING IPFW: The Mastodons enter the week with a 6-4 (0-2 MIVA) record after suffering a 3-2 (28-26, 24-26, 25-19, 23-25, 15-9) league loss at Loyola and posting a 3-0 (25-21, 28-26, 25-19) sweep at Carthage last week . . . Darryl Shank leads the team with a 4.22 kills-per-set average, while Elon Fyfield is second at 2.83 . . . Adam Quinn and Dan Mader have split time at setter this season, helping guide the Mastodons offense to a .276 rate of success, handing out 10.00 and 5.39 assists-per-set, respectively . . . Defensively, Eddie Rivera leads the team with a 1.71 digs-per-set average, while Rob Samp has a team-best 1.06 blocks-per-set average . . . IPFW's opponents are hitting .235 this season.
14 ON THE FLOOR: All 14 players available for last Friday's match versus Pfeiffer saw action in the contest . . . In addition, all 11 attackers and both setters recorded at least one kill in the match to help BSU post a season-best .443 (39-8-70) hitting mark . . . Recording their first career kills in the match were freshman middle attacker Kevin Owens with three and freshman outside attacker Urim Demirovski with one.
"THE MOUSE": Nicknamed "The Mouse" by public address announcer and BSU men's volleyball alumnus Steve Shondell, Ball State redshirt freshman libero Tommy Rouse enters the week ranked first in the league and third nationally with a 2.93 digs-per-set average . . . He has collected double-digit digs in four of BSU's eight matches this season and earned his first career MIVA Defensive Player of the Week honor after BSU's trip to George Mason and Sacred Heart.
THE BIG BLOCK: Senior middle blocker Anders Nelson has been a one-man wall for the Cardinals this season, racking up nine solo blocks in eight matches . . . Nelson tallied a career-best five solo blocks at Sacred Heart, while posting three at then-No. 5 Hawai'i . . . Nelson, who also has 25 block assists this season, enters the week ranked second in the MIVA and eighth nationally with a 1.36 blocks-per-game average.
MORE FROM THE NET: With his 26 block assists so far this season, senior middle attacker J.D. Gasparovic has climbed one spot to fifth in program history with 391 career block assists . . . Gasparovic needs just seven more block assists to vault into third . . . In addition, his 445 career total blocks rank sixth in BSU annals . . . He needs just 20 more blocks to move into fourth in program history in that category.
STRONG SERVING: Behind a career-high eight service aces at Sacred Heart, fifth-year senior Marcus Imwalle is ranked first in the MIVA with a 0.56 aces-per-set average . . . The effort also moved Imwalle into a four-way tie for third in program history for aces in a match . . . Teammate and redshirt junior Dominic Spadavecchio also blasted eight aces in a match versus Quincy (3/28/2009).
IN VICTORY: In the Cardinals' five wins this season, BSU is hitting .324 as a team, while limiting opponents to a .145 rate of success . . . Sophomore right side attacker Greg Herceg leads the team with 36 kills in the five matches, while Anders Nelson has a team-best .551 (30-3-49) hitting mark . . . Nelson also has a team-best 1.44 blocks-per-set average in the five contests, while Tommy Rouse is averaging 2.71 digs per set.
SPADAVECCHIO NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: After collecting 23 kills and 12 digs in BSU's three matches at the Outrigger Hotels Invitational, redshirt junior outside attacker Dominic Spadavecchio was named to the event's All-Tournament Team . . . Spadavecchio collected six kills versus Hawai'i, 10 versus UCLA and seven against Penn State.
