Ball State University Athletics
MVB Visits Ohio State & Princeton This Weekend
March 09, 2011 | Men's Volleyball
CARDINALS VISIT OHIO STATE AND PRINCETON: The Ball State men's volleyball team will take its four match winning streak on the road this week with matches at No. 4 Ohio State (Friday, 7 p.m.) and at Princeton (Saturday, 7 p.m.).
LOOKING AROUND THE LEAGUE: With home wins over Lewis and Loyola last week, Ohio State looks poised to capture its fifth straight league title with a 7-0 MIVA mark . . . However, the Buckeyes still have to play both opponents on the road, while also hosting Ball State and 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 (3-3) and Grand Canyon (0-2) . . . With 0-5 league marks, Quincy and IPFW are virtually eliminated from MIVA title contention.
WEEKEND RECAP: Ball State extended its winning streak to four matches with a pair of non-conference wins last weekend . . . BSU scored a 3-1 (25-20, 25-27, 25-11, 25-17) victory over George Mason Saturday, while surviving a 3-2 (23-25, 25-13, 20-25, 25-14, 16-14) thriller against Sacred Heart Sunday.
IN THE POLLS: The Ball State men's volleyball team remained outside the top 15 for the fourth consecutive week in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . BSU did receive five points which is eight less than No. 15 UC San Diego . . . 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 a 10-6 (3-3 MIVA) record after posting a pair of non-conference wins last week . . . Sophomore Larry Wrather leads the Ball State attack with a 2.72 kills-per-game average, while sophomore Greg Herceg is second at 2.40 . . . Sophomore Dan Wichmann has set the last four matches, guiding the Cardinals to a .277 hitting mark during the span while dishing out 9.19 assists per game . . . Defensively, redshirt freshman Tommy Rouse leads the team with a 2.47 digs-per-game average, while senior Anders Nelson paces the league at the net with a 1.45 blocks-per-game average . . . BSU is limiting its opponents to a .188 hitting mark, while connecting for a .262 rate of success on offense this season.
SERIES VS. OHIO STATE: Dating back to the 1964 season when volleyball became a varsity sport at Ball State, the Cardinals hold a 98-87-1 lead in the all-time series versus Ohio State . . . The Buckeyes have won the last nine meetings in the series, including a 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-18) sweep of the Cardinals at Worthen Arena Feb. 18 . . . OSU holds a 44-31 advantage in matches played in Columbus, including eight straight wins . . . BSU's last win at St. John Arena was a 3-0 (30-21, 31-29, 30-22) victory April 7, 2006.
SCOUTING NO. 4 OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes enter Friday's match with a 14-2 (7-0 MIVA) record, the nation's longest active winning streak at 14 matches and ranked fourth in the latest AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll, including one first place vote . . . Last week, OSU scored home league wins over Lewis (3-0) and Loyola (3-1) . . . Shawn Sangrey leads the team with a 4.39 kills-per-game average, while John Klanac is second at 3.19 . . . Steven Kehoe has set the Buckeyes offense to a .360 rate of success this season, handing out 12.30 assists-per-game . . . Defensively, Mik Berzins leads the team with a 1.88 digs-per-game average, while Grayson Overman has a team-best 1.05 blocks-per-game average . . . OSU is limiting its opponents to a .244 hitting percentage.
SERIES VS. PRINCETON: Ball State holds a 2-0-1 advantage in the all-time series versus Princeton . . . The latest meeting was Feb. 18, 1994, with Ball State scoring a 3-1 (15-8, 11-15, 15-11, 15-13) win at the Patriot Invitational hosted by George Mason . . . All three previous matches were played on neutral courts.
SCOUTING PRINCETON: The Tigers enter Saturday's match with a 1-11 record, having lost their last nine matches . . . Last week, Princeton suffered road losses at Springfield (1-3) and Harvard (2-3) . . . Jeff Stapleton leads the team with a 2.75 kills-per-game average, while Michael Dye is second at 2.18 . . . Scott Liljestrom has set the Tigers offense to a .175 rate of success this season, handing out 7.39 assists per game . . . Defensively, Vincent Tuminelli leads the team with a 1.84 digs-per-game average, while Dye has a team-best 0.73 blocks-per-game average . . . Princeton's opponents are hitting .315 against the Tigers.
HERGEC PACES BSU ATTACK: Sophomore opposite attacker Greg Herceg has led the team in kills in all four matches of BSU's current winning streak . . . Herceg has tallied double-digit kills in three of the four matches, including a career-high 13 last Saturday versus George Mason . . . He also recorded his first career double-double with a career-best 13 digs against the Patriots . . . Herceg is averaging 2.88 kills, 1.69 digs and 0.38 aces per game during the team's winning streak.
STUFFING THE COMPETITION: Ball State continued its domination at the net last weekend, averaging 3.22 blocks per game over the two matches . . . The Cardinals enter the week ranked first in the nation with a 3.07 blocks-per-game average . . . Senior middle attacker Anders Nelson ranks third nationally with a 1.45 blocks-per-game average, while fellow senior middle attacker J.D. Gasparovic is eighth at 1.19 . . . The pair rank 1-2 in the MIVA.
421 AND COUNTING: With his 12 block assists last weekend, J.D. Gasparovic remains third in program history with 421 career block assists . . . Gasparovic needs 16 more block assists to vault into second and 57 to pass Phil Eatherton's (1994-97) career total of 477 for first . . . In addition, his 480 career total blocks rank fourth in BSU annals . . . He needs just 24 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 480 total blocks, 421 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 687 career kills . . . Anders Nelson is second on the list at 542 career kills followed by senior outside attacker Marcus Imwalle (457).
ANDERS CLIMBING THE CHARTS TOO: With his 13 total blocks last weekend, Anders Nelson is tied for 19th in program history with 336 career blocks . . . In addition, his 283 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 eighth nationally with a 2.47 digs-per-game average . . . He has recorded double-digit digs in a team-high seven 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.
