Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Travels To IUPUI Tuesday
August 29, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
►BALL STATE HITS THE ROAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team will play its next 11 matches on the road, starting Tuesday with a 7 p.m. first serve at IUPUI . . . Tuesday's match is the first of five for the Cardinals this week, as they also travel to Valparaiso for the Marriott Volley Brawl this weekend . . . During the two-day tournament, BSU will face Evansville (2 p.m.) and Valparaiso (7 p.m.) Friday, plus Murray State (2 p.m.) and Texas A&M - Corpus Christi (7 p.m.) Saturday.
►FOLLOW THE ACTION: Ball State Sports Link Radio on WCRD will cover Tuesday's Ball State vs. IUPUI match live on 91.3 FM as well as BallStateSports.com . . . Adam Fox and Donnie Kolakowski will cover the action live from The Jungle (IUPUI Gymnasium) . . . In addition, live stats will be available for the match courtesy of IUPUIJags.com . . . Both links are provided above.
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: After claiming the 2011 Ball State Active Ankle Challenge title, the Ball State women's volleyball program enters the week with a 765-494-2 (.608) all-time record . . . With Friday's win over Loyola-Chicago, the Cardinals improved to 19-21 all-time in season-opening matches, including an 8-8 record in season-openers played at home.
►HOME SWEET HOME: With its pair of home wins last weekend, the Ball State women's volleyball team has won its last 17 home matches . . . The homecourt winning streak is the second-longest in program history, trailing only the only the 42-match winning streak from Sept. 9, 1999 - Nov. 20, 2001 . . . 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.
►MORE FROM THE NEST: Sunday's 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 200-56 (.781) all-time record in matches played in Worthen Arena, including a 150-30 (.832) mark versus Mid-American Conference teams.
►BALL STATE VS. IUPUI: Tuesday's match marks the 15th meeting between the Cardinals and Jaguars . . . Ball State holds an 11-3 edge in the all-time series, with one of IUPUI's three wins (Sept. 6, 2005) being later vacated by the NCAA . . . This will be the ninth-consecutive season the teams have meet, with Ball State winning the last two contests . . . Last season, the Cardinals earned a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-11) victory at Worthen Arena (Sept. 7, 2010).
►SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: The Cardinals enter the week with a 2-0 record after posting wins over Loyola-Chicago (3-0) and IPFW (3-1) last week . . . Kelsey Brandl, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the Ball State Active Ankle Challenge, leads the team with a 3.71 kills-per-set average, while Kylee Baker is second at 2.29 . . . Brandl also leads the team with a .419 hitting percentage and four service aces . . . Brittany McGinnis and Jacqui Seidel have combined to set the BSU offense to a .228 hitting mark, dishing out 7.43 and 3.00 assists-per-set, respectively . . . Catie Fredrich enters the week with a team-best 2.86 digs-per-set average . . . On defense, Ball State is holding its opponents to a .134 hitting mark.
►SCOUTING IUPUI: The Jaguars posted an 0-4 record at the NIU Invitational last weekend against some very stiff competition . . . IUPUI opened the tournament with a 3-1 loss to host Northern Illinois who was picked to win the 2011 MAC regular season and tournament championships in the league's annual preseason poll . . . The field only got tougher from there, as the Jaguars were swept by #14 Northern Iowa, #18 Iowa State and reigning BIG EAST regular season champion Cincinnati . . . Moriah Fair leads IUPUI with a 3.54 kills-per-set average, while Kalyse Reimbold is second at 2.08 . . . Bethany Fogler has a team-best .306 hitting percentage, while Alexis Meeks has set the Jaguars offense to a .128 rate of success, averaging 7.77 assists-per-set . . . Shari Bernhardt has a team-best 4.38 digs-per-set average . . . IUPUI's opponents are hitting for a .341 rate of success.
►ALL-TOURNAMENT: After leading the Cardinals with 26 kills, a .419 hitting percentage and four service aces last weekend, Kelsey Brandl was named the 2011 Ball State Active Ankle Challenge Most Valuable Player . . . Sophomores Mindy Marx and Catie Fredrich also earned recognition on the all-tournament team . . . Marx tallied 15 kills, hit .379 and posted a team-best four total blocks in the two matches . . . Fredrich paced the Cardinals with 20 digs, while adding three service aces and a .947 reception percentage in her first two matches as the team's libero.
►HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINDY: Sophomore Mindy Marx celebrate her 20th birthday by collecting a career-high tying 12 kills to help lead Ball State to a 3-1 win over IPFW Sunday . . . She also tied for team-high honors with three total blocks while hitting .364 (12-4-22).
►SERVING IT UP: The Cardinals enter the week ranked first in the conference with a 2.29 aces-per-set average after recording 16 aces in its two matches last weekend . . . Catie Fredrich got the ball rolling when she aced Loyola-Chicago for the first point of the 2011 season . . . More importantly, the Cardinals committed just five service errors in the two matches for a .970 serving percentage as a team . . . In comparison, BSU's opponents collected just six ace while logging 20 service errors.
►MORE FROM THE SERVICE LINE: Catie Fredrich leads Ball State's active players with a .986 career serving percentage . . . In 439 career service attempts, Fredrich has collected 21 aces while posting just six service errors . . . Fellow sophomore Kylee Baker is second among BSU's active servers with a .966 career serving percentage, collecting 24 aces to just 13 errors in 384 attempts . . . Senior Brittany McGinnis' 87 career aces and 1,262 career service attempts are the most of any active BSU player . . . McGinnis holds a .917 career serving percentage.
►HITTING THE MARK: After another solid weekend from the attack line, Kelsey Brandl raised her Ball State career hitting percentage to .347 which continues to rank third in program history . . . She also climbed over the 600 kill mark for her BSU career at 604, while her career-high tying four service aces versus IPFW gave her 51 for her Ball State playing career . . . Brandl is in her third season with the Cardinals after transferring from Cincinnati . . . Including her one season at UC, Brandl has 734 kills, a .329 hitting percentage and 75 aces over her collegiate career.
►DISHING THE ROCK: After handing out 52 assists last weekend, Brittany McGinnis raised her career assists total to 3,404 which ranks fifth in program history . . . She needs just 132 more assists to pass Angie Parrell's (2004-07) career total of 3,535 for fourth on BSU's all-time list . . . In addition, McGinnis' 9.87 career assists-per-set average is sixth in BSU annals . . .
►MORE ON MCGINNIS: Brittany McGinnis has started all 95 matches over her career, while playing in 345 of a possible 354 sets . . . Her 794 career digs are 14 shy of breaking into the top 20 in program history, while her 87 career service aces are eight shy of the top 20.
►BSU DEBUT: Three players made their debut for the Cardinals last weekend, with junior transfer Kara Bates, redshirt freshman Maria Dorsten and true freshman Jaclyn Fullove all seeing action . . . Bates led the newcomers with seven kills and three total blocks.
►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.
