Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Opens 2011 Season Friday
August 25, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
►VOLLEYBALL OPENS 2011 SEASON THIS WEEKEND: The Ball State women's volleyball team opens its 40th season of play Friday, when it hosts Loyola-Chicago at 7 p.m. in the 2011 Ball State Active Ankle Challenge . . . On Sunday, the Cardinals complete play in the three-day, three-team tournament with a 2 p.m. match versus in-state rival IPFW.
►FOLLOW THE ACTION LIVE: For the second consecutive season, Ball State All-Access will feature live streaming video for all of BSU's women's volleyball home matches . . . BallStateSports.com, Ball State Sports Link and the Ball State Sports Network will combine to cover all 11 home matches with a complete broadcast schedule to be announced later . . . Ball State All-Access packages cost as little as 9.95 a month . . . In addition, Ball State Sports Link Radio 91.3 WCRD will broadcast all of BSU's home matches and select road contests for FREE online at BallStateSports.com.
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: Ball State enters its 40th season of competition with a 763-494-2 (.607) all-time record . . . The Cardinals are 18-21 all-time in season-opening matches, including a 7-8 record in season-opening matches played at home . . . Last season, the Cardinals opened the year with a 3-0 sweep of The Citadel at the SIUE Volleyball Classic and went on to win their first seven matches all by sweeps.
►HOME SWEET HOME: Dating back to the 2009 season, the Ball State women's volleyball team has won its last 15 home matches . . . Last season, the Cardinals went a perfect 12-0 in Worthen Arena and was one of only 10 teams in the nation to finish the season undefeated at home . . . BSU owns a 198-56 (.780) all-time record in matches played in Worthen Arena, including a 150-30 (.832) mark versus Mid-American Conference teams.
►BALL STATE VS. TOURNAMENT FIELD: The Cardinals are a combined 14-4 versus teams in the 2011 Ball State Active Ankle Challenge field . . . BSU holds a 5-1 edge in the series versus Loyola-Chicago and will be playing its first match versus the Ramblers since posting a 3-0 (15-13, 15-11, 15-8) home court victory in the first round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament (Nov. 29, 1995) . . . Ball State holds a 9-3 lead in the all-time series versus IPFW and will be battling the Mastodons for the 11th-consecutive season . . . Last year, the Cardinals earned a hard-fought 3-2 (25-21, 23-25, 25-20, 22-25, 15-12) victory in Ft. Wayne (Sept. 14, 2010).
►SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Ball State returns 11 letterwinners, including six starters, from last season's squad which posted a 24-5 record and won the MAC Regular Season Title with a 14-2 league mark . . . Ball State's .828 winning percentage was the third-best in program history and ranked 17th in the nation among the 328 NCAA Division I programs . . . Highlighting BSU's list of returning student-athletes are three All-MAC honorees . . . Senior middle blocker Kelsey Brandl earned First Team All-MAC accolades for the second-straight season after leading the team in kills per set (3.19), hitting percentage (.349), blocks per set (0.84) and service aces (31) . . . Senior setter Brittany McGinnis earned recognition on the All-MAC Second Team after guiding BSU to a .224 team hitting percentage last season . . . Also earning recognition on the All-MAC Second Team, as well as the MAC All-Freshman squad, was sophomore outside hitter Whitney Heeres who ranked second on the team with a 3.12 kills-per-set average, including a team-high 3.36 average in MAC play.
►SCOUTING LOYOLA-CHICAGO: The Ramblers return nine letterwinners, including two starters and the libero, from last season's team which posted an 11-17 overall record . . . Diana Schulte is the team's top returning attacker, averaging 2.81 kills per set a year ago . . . Natalie Fiore set the Ramblers' attack to a .195 hitting mark, while handing out 10.38 assists per set . . . Cat Languido collected a team-best 4.45 digs per set as the libero.
►SCOUTING IPFW: The Mastodons return seven letterwinners, including three starters and the libero, from last season's team which posted a 21-11 overall record . . . Muncie Central graduate Tessa McGill returns to her hometown as the squad's libero . . . Last year, McGill collected three Summit League Defensive Player of the Week honors and posted a career-best 47 digs in the Sept. 14 showdown against the Cardinals . . . IPFW also returns Summit League Setter of the Year Megan Steenhuysen.
►A FAMILY AFFAIR: Sunday's Ball State versus IPFW match will be a family reunion of sorts between BSU freshman setter Jaclyn Fullove and her sister Jasmine Fullove who is an assistant coach for the Mastodons . . . In addition, both Fullove sisters are the nieces of Ball State head coach Steve Shondell.
►HITTING THE MARK: Senior middle blocker Kelsey Brandl enters her final year with the Cardinals ranked third in program history with a .345 career hitting percentage . . . A two-year starter for Ball State after transferring from Cincinnati, Brandl has smashed 578 total kills for BSU while racking up 181 career blocks . . . She is on pace to break into the top 20 in program history in both categories.
►MORE FROM THE FRONT LINE: Senior middle blocker /right side attacker Jennifer Boyd has also posted solid attacking numbers over her career, ranking 11th in program history with her .273 career hitting mark . . . She also owns the eighth-best single-match hitting mark in BSU annals with her .750 effort versus Chicago State Sept. 11, 2009.
►DISHING THE ROCK: Senior setter Brittany McGinnis enters the season ranked fifth in program history with 3,352 career assists, while her 9.92 career assists-per-set average is sixth in BSU annals . . . McGinnis has started all 93 matches over her career, while playing in 338 of a possible 347 sets.
►DIGGING IT UP: Senior defensive specialist Kaylee Schembra enters the year ranked 17th in program history with her 2.45 career digs-per-set average . . . She is also tied for 19th in the BSU record book with double-figure digs in 33 career matches . . . Over her first three years, Schembra has tallied 728 career digs, leaving her 80 shy of breaking into the top 20 in that category.
►FROM THE SERVICE LINE: Sophomore defensive specialist Catie Fredrich was one of the league's top servers last season, posting a team-best .988 serving percentage . . . In 406 service attempts, Fredrich collected 18 aces while posting just five service errors . . . She also turned in a solid effort in the back court, ranking third on the team with 257 digs.
►ON THE OUTSIDE: Both of BSU's top outside attackers from a year ago return to the lineup in sophomores Whitney Heeres and Kylee Baker . . . Heeres ranked second on the squad with a 3.12 kills-per-set average last season, while Baker was third at 2.97.
►MAC PRESEASON POLL: Ball State was selected to finish second in the Mid-American Conference West Division as voted on by the league's 12 head coaches in the annual preseason poll . . . The Cardinals, the defending MAC Regular Season Champions, were one of four teams in the division to earn at least one first place vote . . . Northern Illinois was selected to win the MAC West and earned seven first place votes . . . Western Michigan (three first place votes) was tabbed to finish third, followed by Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan (one first place vote) and Toledo . . . In the MAC East Division, Ohio claimed 11 of the 12 first place votes to win the division, and is followed by Miami, Akron (one first place vote), Buffalo, Bowling Green and Kent State . . . Northern Illinois was selected to win both the MAC regular season and tournament championships, with five votes in each category.
