Ball State University Athletics
MVB Visits Penn State, Saint Francis This Weekend
March 17, 2011 | Men's Volleyball
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL HEADS TO PENNSYLVANIA: The Ball State men's volleyball team returns to the road this weekend when it travels to the state of Pennsylvania for a pair of non-conference matches at No. 9 Penn State (Friday, 7 p.m.) and Saint Francis (Saturday, 7 p.m.).
BSU IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY: The Cardinals enter the week with an 8-3 record in non-conference play, including six straight non-conference wins . . . BSU's last loss to a non-MIVA foe was a 1-3 (25-12, 20-25, 32-34, 21-25) setback at George Mason (Jan. 28).
WEEKEND RECAP: Ball State suffered its second loss of the season to No. 4 Ohio State, falling 1-3 (21-25, 18-25, 25-15, 22-25) to the Buckeyes at St. John Arena last Friday . . . The Cardinals followed with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-16) sweep at Princeton Saturday evening.
LOOKING AROUND THE LEAGUE: With its win over Ball State Friday, Ohio State looks poised to capture its fifth straight league title with an 8-0 MIVA mark . . . However, the Buckeyes still have to play Loyola and Lewis on the road, while also traveling to Grand Canyon for a pair of matches . . . Loyola is currently second in the league race with a 5-1 MIVA mark, followed by Lewis (3-2), Ball State (3-4), IPFW (2-5), Grand Canyon (0-4) and Quincy (0-5).
IN THE POLLS: The Ball State men's volleyball team remained outside the top 15 for the fifth consecutive week in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . BSU did receive seven points which is six less than No. 15 Pacific . . . 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 (Jan. 17 & Jan. 24).
SCOUTING BALL STATE: The Cardinals enter the week with an 11-7 (3-4 MIVA) record after splitting a pair of matches last week . . . Sophomore Larry Wrather leads the Ball State attack with a 2.60 kills-per-game average, while sophomore Greg Herceg is second at 2.43 . . . Sophomore Dan Wichmann has started the last six matches at setter, guiding the Cardinals to a .274 hitting mark during the span while dishing out 9.91 assists per game . . . Defensively, redshirt freshman Tommy Rouse leads the team with a 2.45 digs-per-game average for the year, while senior Anders Nelson paces the league at the net with a 1.43 blocks-per-game average . . . BSU is limiting its opponents to a .189 hitting mark, while connecting for a .262 rate of success on offense this season.
SERIES VS. PENN STATE: The Nittany Lions own a 57-24 lead in the all-time series versus the Cardinals, including 10 straight wins . . . BSU's last victory over Penn State was a 3-0 (32-30, 30-28, 30-28) win in Rec Hall's South Gym Jan. 14, 2006 . . . Ball State is 6-19 all-time in matches played in University Park, Pa.
SCOUTING NO. 9 PENN STATE: The Nittany Lions enter Friday's match with a 15-4 (7-0 EIVA) record and ranked ninth in the latest AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . Penn State was on the west coast last weekend, suffering losses at No. 9 UCLA (2-3) and No. 5 (tie) Long Beach State (1-3) surrounding a win at No. 5 (tie) UC Santa Barbara (3-1) . . . Joe Sunder leads the team with a 4.81 kills-per-game average, while Tom Comfort is second at 3.41 . . . Edgardo Goas has set the Nittany Lions offense to a .342 rate of success this season, handing out 11.20 assists-per-game . . . Defensively, Dennis Del Valle leads the team with a 2.49 digs-per-game average, while Ian Hendries has a team-best 0.90 blocks-per-game average . . . PSU is limiting its opponents to a .301 hitting percentage.
SERIES VS. SAINT FRANCIS: Ball State holds an 8-3 lead in the all-time series versus the Red Flash, including wins in the last three meetings . . . The Cardinals are 4-2 in matches in Loretto, Pa., including a 3-1 (29-31, 30-27, 30-28, 30-21) win last season (Feb. 20).
SCOUTING SAINT FRANCIS: The Red Flash enter the week with an 8-8 (2-4 EIVA) record, including a 3-1 win over NJIT last Saturday . . . Prior to the NJIT match, SFU had not played since an 0-3 setback to Loyola (Feb. 26) . . . Logan Patterson leads the team with a 3.19 kills-per-game average, while Colin Sherwin is second at 2.51 . . . Ryan Williams has set the Red Flash offense to a .232 rate of success this season, handing out 10.62 assists per game . . . Defensively, John Wappler leads the team with a 2.72 digs-per-game average, while Adam Roche has a team-best 1.06 blocks-per-game average . . . Saint Francis' opponents are hitting .287.
ALL-OUT ATTACK: In last Saturday's win at Princeton, the Ball State offense posted a season-best .477 (40-9-65) hitting mark with 12 different players recording at least one kill . . . Senior middle attacker J.D. Gasparovic had the best day on offense, tying for a team-high with five kills while hitting a perfect 1.000 (5-0-5) . . . The team effort was the best for the Cardinals since they posted a .548 (43-9-62) hitting percentage against Central State March 28, 2006.
STUFFING THE COMPETITION: Ball State continued its domination at the net last weekend, averaging 3.36 blocks per game over the two matches . . . The Cardinals enter the week ranked first in the nation with a 3.10 blocks-per-game average . . . Pacific is second in the country at 2.89 . . . Individually, senior middle attacker Anders Nelson ranks third nationally with a 1.43 blocks-per-game average, while fellow senior middle attacker J.D. Gasparovic is seventh at 1.22 . . . The pair rank first and third, respectively, in the MIVA.
421 AND COUNTING: With his nine block assists last weekend, J.D. Gasparovic remains third in program history with 430 career block assists . . . Gasparovic needs seven more block assists to vault into second and 48 to pass Phil Eatherton's (1994-97) career total of 477 for first . . . In addition, his 489 career total blocks rank fourth in BSU annals . . . He needs just 15 more blocks to move into third in program history in that category . . . Eatherton is also BSU's all-time leader in total career blocks at 575 . . . In addition, Gasparovic's 489 total blocks, 430 block assists and 59 solo blocks are all BSU rally scoring era records.
BSU'S ACTIVE KILL LEADER: In addition to ranking as one of the top blockers in program history, J.D. Gasparovic enters the week as BSU's active kills leader with 695 career kills . . . Anders Nelson is second on the list at 554 career kills followed by senior outside attacker Marcus Imwalle (459).
ANDERS CLIMBING THE CHARTS TOO: With his six total blocks last weekend, Anders Nelson climbed to 18th in program history with 342 career blocks . . . In addition, his 289 career block assists rank 15th in program history.
FROM THE BACK ROW: Ball State redshirt freshman libero Tommy Rouse ranks second in the MIVA and ninth nationally with a 2.45 digs-per-game average . . . He has recorded double-digit digs in a team-high eight matches this season.
WEEKLY HONORS: So far this season, the Cardinals have claimed a pair of MIVA Weekly Awards . . . Tommy Rouse was named the MIVA Defensive Player of the Week Jan. 31 after averaging 3.44 digs per game and posting a .953 serve reception percentage versus George Mason and Sacred Heart . . . Anders Nelson earned MIVA Offensive Player of the Week honors Feb. 14 after leading the team with 19 kills, 17 total blocks and a .593 (19-3-27) attack percentage against Lewis and IPFW.
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.
