Ball State University Athletics
Men's Volleyball Continues Home Stand Thursday
February 08, 2012 | Men's Volleyball
►THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State men's volleyball team concludes a four match home stand this week with contests versus Lindenwood (Thursday) and MIVA rival Quincy (Saturday) . . . Both matches are set for 7:30 p.m. first serves.
►FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live stats and live video will be available for both matches this week at BallStateSports.com . . . WCRD 91.3 FM will also cover Saturday's match versus Quincy live over the airwaves and online with Tim Keane and C.J. Allard calling the action . . . Streaming video will be provided by BallStateSports.com as part of the Ball State All Access package which starts at $9.95 a month.
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: After posting an 0-2 record last week, the Ball State men's volleyball program enters Thursday's match versus Lindenwood with a 1058-425-8 (.712) all-time record in 48-plus seasons of play . . . The program, which officially became a varsity sport at Ball State during the 1964 season, joins baseball and men's basketball as the only programs in school history to reach 1,000 wins . . . In addition, only one other NCAA Division I/II men's volleyball program has eclipsed 1,000 wins, with UCLA entering the week with an 1,228-283 all-time record over 49-plus years.
►250 AND COUNTING: Joel Walton, who is in his 14th season as BSU's head coach, picked up his 250th career victory in a 3-2 thriller at George Mason (Jan. 14) . . . After the Cardinals went 0-2 last week, Walton enters Thursday's match against Lindenwood with a 254-140 (.645) career record . . . Walton is 3-0 (1.000) all-time versus Lindenwood and 27-4 (.871) against Quincy.
►ALL-TIME VERSUS LINDENWOOD: The Cardinals have won all three previous meetings in the series with Lindenwood by virtue of sweeps . . . Last season, BSU scored a season-opening 3-0 (25-23, 27-25, 25-22) victory over the Lions in Worthen Arena (Jan. 7) . . . Prior to that, the teams had not played since Jan. 20, 2002.
►ALL-TIME VERSUS QUINCY: Ball State holds a 36-4 advantage in the all-time series versus the Hawks . . . After BSU swept the regular season series in 2011, winning 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-17) Feb. 25 and 3-1 (18-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-20) Feb. 26 at Worthen Arena, Quincy scored a stunning 3-1 (17-25, 25-21, 25-20, 26-24) upset of the Cardinals in the quarterfinals of the 2011 MIVA Tournament.
►SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: The Cardinals enter the week with a 5-4 (0-2 MIVA) record after suffering league losses to then-No. 13 Loyola (3-1) and then-No. 6 Lewis (3-0) last week . . . Redshirt junior right side attacker Jamion Hartley paces the BSU attack with 85 kills (2.83 kps), while junior outside attacker Larry Wrather is second with 80 kills (2.35 kps) . . . Sophomore setter Graham McIlvaine has guided BSU to a .212 rate of success on offense by handing out 9.26 assists per set . . . Sophomore middle blocker Kevin Owens leads the team with 38 total blocks (1.09 bps) and a .388 hitting percentage . . . Sophomore libero Tommy Rouse averages 2.37 digs per set to pace the BSU back court.
►WHAT A SET: Ball State and Lewis combined to play the longest set in program history, with the Flyers scoring a 44-42 opening-frame win over the Cardinals last Sunday . . . The 86-point set, which lasted 46 minutes, is the longest in the rally-scoring era for BSU, topping the previous mark of 84 points when the Cardinals dropped the third set 43-41 to Loyola in the semifinals of the MIVA Tournament April 25, 2003.
►FROM THE MIDDLE: Ball State's middle attackers led the charge last week, with Kevin Owens blasting 2.43 kps and redshirt Matt Leske tagging 2.29 . . . The averages rank eighth and ninth in the MIVA in league-only matches.
►FROM THE MIDDLE: Matt Leske turned in the best performance of his career in the league-opener versus then-No. 13 Loyola, smashing a career-high nine kills to go along with a career-best .615 (9-1-13) attack percentage . . . He also secured four total blocks and enters the week ranked fifth in the MIVA with a 1.06 blocks-per-set average for the year.
►THE KNOCKOUT PUNCH: Kevin Owens led the Cardinals with 17 kills last week, including a career-high tying 11 versus then-No. 6 Lewis Sunday . . . In the extended first set, Owens tagged eight kills and a .636 (8-1-11) hitting mark . . . He finished the day with a .400 (11-3-20) attack percentage, raising his season mark to .388 which ranks fourth in the MIVA . . . His 1.09 bps average is also fourth in the MIVA.
►FROM THE BACK ROW: Sophomore libero Tommy Rouse, who was named the MIVA Defensive Player of Week Jan. 23, enters the week ranked third in the league with a 2.37 digs-per-set average . . . He also boasts a .979 (191-for-195) reception percentage this season.
