Ball State University Athletics
Volleyball Hosts Toledo Thursday On SL TV
October 08, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
►THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team closes its first tour through the Mid-American Conference West Division Thursday, when it hosts Toledo at 7 p.m. in a match which will be broadcast by Ball State Sports Link ... Saturday, the Cardinals will play their first cross-division opponent with a 7 p.m. match at Buffalo.
►SL TV: Ball State Sports Link will broadcast Thursday's match versus Toledo live and free online at BallStateSports.com ... The match can also be seen state-wide on Comcast Indiana 81 and on campus with Cardinal Vision 57 ... Luke Martin is the producer for the broadcast, while the talent team includes Torey Fox (play-by-play), Andy Wright (analyst) and Allison Wilson (social/sideline) ... Ball State Sports Link is an immersive learning experience which allows students to write, report, shoot, produce and host a variety of sports programs ... For more information on Ball State Sports Link visit: ballstatesportslink.com
►MORE WAYS TO FOLLOW: Fans can listen to the SL Radio WCRD 91.3 FM broadcast of Thursday's match free over the airwaves and on BallStateSports.com and WCRD.net ... Rob Connett will handle play-by-play duties for the student-run production ... Live stats for both matches will be available on BallStateSports.com ... Fans can also follow the program on twitter @BallStateWVB and @BallStateSports.
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: The Ball State women's volleyball team enters Thursday's match versus Toledo with an 835-535-2 (.609) all-time record ... The Cardinals boast a 96-46 (.676) mark under fifth-year head coach Steve Shondell, including a 48-20 (.706) ledger in MAC play.
►IN THE MAC: Ball State holds a 333-166 (.667) all-time record in Mid-American Conference matches, which ranks second among all league schools ... Western Michigan is first with a 347-152 (.695) all-time league mark, while Toledo is 11th at 153-346 (.307) and Buffalo is 12th at 45-225 (.167).
►HOME SWEET HOME: The Ball State owns a 228-67 (.773) all-time record in Worthen Arena, including a 168-38 (.816) mark versus MAC opponents ... The Cardinals are 4-1 at home this season, including wins over league rivals Eastern Michigan (3-2) and Central Michigan (3-1) last weekend.
►FROM THE ROAD: Ball State's 12 straight road matches, from Sept. 5-27, marked the longest string of matches the Cardinals have played without a stop at home since joining the MAC in volleyball in 1980 ... The Cardinals played 11 consecutive matches away from home in four previous seasons since joining the league; 1982, 1989, 2003 and 2011 ... Ball State's longest single-season road swing is 19 matches in 1974 ... The Cardinals also played the final 13 matches of the 1973 season away from home, moving its total to 32 consecutive contests on the road from Nov. 16, 1973 to Oct. 24, 1974.
►VERSUS TOLEDO: Ball State holds a commanding 59-7 lead in the all-time series versus Toledo, including a 25-3 record in matches played in Muncie and a 20-2 advantage in Worthen Arena ... However, it was the Rockets who had the Cardinals number last year, as they scored a 3-1 (29-27, 25-21, 20-25, 25-19) win in Toledo (Oct. 3) and a 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 28-26, 25-23, 15-12) victory in Muncie (Nov. 7) ... It marked just the second time in the 66 matches played between the squads Toledo won back-to-back contests, with the only other coming in 1983 ... Ball State put together a 42-match winning streak over the Rockets from Nov. 13, 1987 to Oct. 2, 2008.
►VERSUS BUFFALO: Ball State holds a 17-1 lead in the all-time series with Buffalo, including three straight wins ... The Bulls' lone victory in the series was a hard-fought 3-2 (28-26, 20-25, 25-19, 19-25, 15-13) decision in Buffalo Oct. 9, 2010 ... Last season, the Cardinals secured a 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-15) win over the Bulls at Worthen Arena Oct. 5, 2013 to improve to 11-0 against Buffalo at home.
QUICK HITS
● Ball State enters Thursday's match versus Toledo with a 9-8 (3-1 MAC) record ... The Cardinals scored a pair of important MAC West Division home wins last weekend, topping Eastern Michigan (3-2) Friday and Central Michigan (3-1) Saturday ... Hayley Benson leads the squad with 178 kills and a 2.58 kills-per-set average, while Alex Fuelling averages a team-best 3.65 digs per set.
● Toledo enters Thursday's match at Ball State with a 1-16 (0-4 MAC) record ... Last weekend, the Rockets suffered home losses to Central Michigan (3-0) Friday and Eastern Michigan (3-1) Saturday ... Toledo's lone win on the year was a 3-2 home victory over IPFW (Sept. 19) ... Alyssa Ehrhardt leads the Rockets with 173 kills and a 2.98 kills-per-set average, while Lauren Bakaitis has a team-high 4.02 digs-per-set average.
● Buffalo enters the weekend with a 12-6 (2-2 MAC) record and plays at Akron Thursday before hosting Ball State Saturday ... The Bulls suffered a pair of 3-0 losses last weekend, falling at Ohio Friday and Kent State Saturday ... However, Buffalo was missing its top attacker Tahleia Bishop and its top setter Marissa Prinzbach in those two matches ... Bishop leads the Bills with 257 kills and a 4.67 kills-per-set average, while Nikki Bozinoski averages a team-high 3.46 digs per set.
● In addition to this season, the Ball State women's volleyball team has opened MAC play with a 3-1 record three times in five seasons under head coach Steve Shondell … The 2010 Cardinals opened the year 3-1 and went on to win the MAC Regular Season title … The 2013 squad also started the league year 3-1 and shared the MAC West Division title with Toledo … Ball State did open the 2011 MAC season with a 4-0 record, and despite losing the division title to Northern Illinois, advanced to the opening round of the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship.
● Ball State junior middles Hayley Benson and Kelly Hopkins have combined for 105 of the Cardinals' 230 kills in league action, while attacking for a combined .397 (105-28-194) rate of success ... Benson's .413 (55-12-104) attack percentage is third in the conference in league-only matches, while Hopkins' .386 (50-16-88) mark is fifth.
● Over the last 11 matches, freshman outside hitter Sabrina Mangapora has been a key component for the Ball State offense, leading the team with 124 kills and a 2.64 kills-per-set average ... Hayley Benson is second over the same span with 115 kills.
● Sabrina Mangapora has also provided several key plays at the net, collecting a team-best 15 solo blocks so far this season ... In the win at Western Michigan (Sept. 26), Mangapora collected a career-high five solo blocks, which are the most for a Ball State player in a match since Hayley Benson logged five versus SMU Sept. 21, 2013 ... Of her 15 solo blocks this season, eight of come in BSU's four league matches.
● In her return to the libero position, junior Kati Vasalakis helped the Ball State defense turn in one of its best weekends of the season as the team averaged 15.33 digs per set and held opponents to a .206 attack percentage.
● Individually, Kati Vasalakis tallied 43 digs (4.78 per set) and logged a .968 (60-of-62) reception percentage last weekend … In Friday's win over Eastern Michigan, she tied a career-high with 24 digs and logged a .950 (38-of-40) reception percentage … She followed with 19 digs and a perfect 1.000 (22-of-22) reception mark in Saturday's win over Central Michigan ... Vasalakis also led Ball State's servers with three aces on the weekend.
● Junior setter Jenna Spadafora enters the week ranked first in the MAC with an 11.24 assists-per-set average in league-only matches ... Spadafora has only handed out 50-or-more assists in three matches over her career, with two coming in the first four matches of league play this season.
● Ball State opened MAC play by posting its two best team attack percentages of the season ... At Western Michigan (Sept .26), the Cardinals connected for a season-best .290 (69-27-145) rate of success ... Ball State followed by hitting .265 (38-16-83) at Northern Illinois (Sept. 27), which is the second-best effort this season.
● Ball State's 36-34 opening set victory at IPFW (Sept. 17) marked the longest set in the 25-point rally scoring era for Ball State ... Prior to last Wednesday, the previous longest set were a pair of 32-30 set losses versus Wisconsin-Green Bay in the first-ever 25-point rally scoring match for the Cardinals Aug. 29, 2008 ... Ball State also lost a 32-30 set versus George Washington on Sept. 18, 2009.
