Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Returns Home This Weekend
October 02, 2012 | Women's Volleyball
►THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to the friendly confines of Worthen Arena this weekend for matches versus Central Michigan (Friday, 7 p.m.) and Eastern Michigan (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.).
►FOLLOW THE ACTION: Ball State Sports Link Radio WCRD 91.3 FM will cover both of this weekend's matches live from Worthen Arena ... Adam Fox will call the play-by-play action, while Donnie Kolakowski and Bryan Lord deliver the color commentary ... Both matches will be streamed live for free on BallStateSports.com ... BallStateSports.com All Access Live Video will be available for both matches as well, with subscriptions starting at $9.95 a month ... In addition, live stats are also available for all of Ball State's home matches.
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: Ball State enters Friday's contest with a 797-510-2 (.610) all-time record after suffering road losses at Northern Illinois and Western Michigan last week ... BSU boasts a 58-21 (.734) mark under third-year head coach Steve Shondell, including a 28-8 (.778) record in Mid-American Conference play.
►BALL STATE IN THE MAC: With a 3-1 victory at Ohio (Oct. 14, 2011), Ball State became just the second women's volleyball program in league history to collect 300 Mid-American Conference victories ... With a 2-2 MAC record so far this season, BSU enters Friday's match versus Central Michigan with a 308-151 (.671) all-time record in conference matches ... BSU's record is the second-best in league history, trailing only Western Michigan's 320-139 (.699) all-time league mark ... CMU is seventh all-time with a 237-222 (.516) MAC mark, while Eastern Michigan is eighth with a 206-253 (.449) all-time league record.
►FROM THE NEST: Ball State enters Friday's home match with a 7-1 record in Worthen Arena so far this season ... Ball State owns a 215-58 (.788) all-time record in matches played in Worthen Arena, including a 159-31 (.837) mark versus Mid-American Conference teams ... Central Michigan is 3-15 (.167) all-time in the building, while Eastern Michigan is 3-20 (.130).
►VS. CENTRAL MICHIGAN: Ball State enters Friday's match with a 38-28 advantage in the all-time series versus Central Michigan, including five consecutive wins ... Prior to BSU's five-match winning streak, the Chippewas had won five consecutive in the series ... Last season, the Cardinals earned a 3-0 road victory (Oct. 7) and a 3-1 home win (Nov. 12) over CMU ... Ball State holds a 19-11 edge in matches played in Muncie, including its 15-3 mark in Worthen Arena.
►VS. EASTERN MICHIGAN: Ball State maintains a 46-22 lead in the all-time series versus Eastern Michigan, including a 3-1 victory in the quarterfinals of the 2011 MAC Tournament ... EMU won both regular season meetings last year, scoring a 3-1 home win (Oct. 8) and a 3-1 road victory (Nov. 10) ... Ball State holds a 26-8 lead in matches played in Muncie, including its 20-3 edge in Worthen Arena.
►SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Ball State enters the week ranked fourth in the MAC West Division with a 9-8 (2-2 MAC) record ... Last week, the Cardinals suffered road losses at Northern Illinois (3-1) and Western Michigan (3-1) ... Kara Bates leads the Ball State attack and ranks third in the MAC with a 3.97 kills-per-set average, while Lauren Grant is second among BSU's starters at 2.25 ... Setter Jacqui Seidel has the BSU offense ranked third in the MAC with a .232 team hitting percentage, and has also collected assist/dig double-doubles in eight of BSU's 17 matches ... Catie Fredrich paces the BSU backcourt and ranks second in the league with a 4.97 digs-per-set average ... As a team, Ball State is limiting its opponents to a .188 hitting mark which ranks BSU's defense fifth in the MAC.
►SCOUTING THE CHIPPEWAS: Central Michigan enters the week with a 9-6 (3-1 MAC) record ... Last week, the Chippewas scored wins over Eastern Michigan (3-0) and at Kent State (3-0) ... Kaitlyn McIntyre paces the Chippewas attack with a 3.72 kills-per-set average, while Lindsay Dulude is second at 2.69 ... Kelly Maxwell has set the Central Michigan offense to a .234 hitting mark this season, which ranks second among the 12 MAC teams ... Jenna Coates has a team-best 5.13 digs-per-set average to rank first in the league ... As a team, CMU is holding its opponents to a .174 hitting percentage to rank second in the MAC.
►SCOUTING THE EAGLES: Eastern Michigan enters the week with an 11-9 (1-3 MAC) record ... EMU will play at Toledo Friday, before traveling to Muncie for Saturday's showdown ... Last week, EMU suffered road losses at both Central Michigan (3-0) and Ohio (3-0) ... Rachel Iaquaniello paces the Eastern Michigan attack and ranks second in the MAC with a 4.00 kills-per-set average, while Kristen Baker is second on the squad at 2.34 ... Kim Hildreth and Alyssa Davis have combined to set the Eagles' offense to a .204 hitting mark this season, which ranks ninth in the league ... Sierra Reed anchors the EMU backcourt with a 4.05 digs-per-set average to rank 10th in the conference ... As a team, the Eastern Michigan defense is allowing opponents to hit .203 which is sixth in the league.
►IN THE NCAA STAT RANKINGS: Ball State enters the week ranked 44th in the nation with a 13.93 team kills-per-set average, while its .232 hitting percentage is 70th among the 330 NCAA Division I programs ... Individually, Kara Bates is 57th nationally with her 3.97 kills-per-set average, while Catie Fredrich is 56th with her 4.97 digs-per-set average.
►LEADING THE PACK: Senior outside hitter Kara Bates has led the Ball State attack in kills 14 times this season, including each of the last 11 matches ... She posted a career-high 24 kills at Northern Colorado (Sept. 8), while collected 19 kills in four other matches ... A 2011 First Team All-MAC selection, Bates currently ranks third in the MAC with a 3.97 kills-per-set average ... Last season, Bates only averaged 3.04 kills per set over the first 17 matches of the season.
►FREDRICH ON D: A five-time career MAC West Division Defensive Player of the Week selection, including once this season, junior defensive specialist Catie Fredrich has racked up double-digit digs in 16 of BSU's 17 matches this season, with 20-or-more digs five times ... Overall, Fredrich has led BSU in digs in 45 of the last 47 matches dating back to last season, while earning match-high honors in 33 of the contests.
►DIGGING DEEP: With her 29 digs last week, Catie Fredrich moved into 10th in program history with 1,117 career digs ... Fredrich is 10 digs shy of climbing two more spots to eighth, as she is set to pass both Emily Sallee (1,120 digs; 1997-2000) and Stacy Jordan (1,126 digs; 1982-85) this weekend ... Fredrich's 22-dig effort versus Wyoming (Sept. 15) marked the 14th time in her career she has posted 20-or-more digs in a match which ranks fifth in BSU annals ... Her 58 career matches with double-figure digs ranks seventh on BSU's career charts, while her 3.87 career digs-per-set average is fourth.
►STEPPING IN: With injuries limiting the Cardinals' front line, freshman Jenna Spadafora has stepped up in a huge way on the left side for BSU ... Since taking over the No. 2 outside position versus Akron (Sept. 22), Spadafora ranks second on the team with 27 kills and boasts a .269 (27-9-67) attack percentage ... BSU's backup setter entering the year, Spadafora blasted a career-high 11 kills versus the Zips, and tied the mark last Saturday at Western Michigan.
►SET FOR SUCCESS: Junior setter Jacqui Seidel has guided the Ball State offense to a .270 hitting mark over the last seven matches, including a season-best .330 effort versus Wright State (Sept. 15) ... She has set four players to hitting marks of .277-or-better during the run, and helped the Cardinals climb to third in the league with a .232 team hitting mark for the year.
