Ball State University Athletics
Volleyball Travels To Toledo, Hosts Akron This Week
November 12, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
►THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team concludes the 2014 regular season with a Thursday match at Toledo and a Saturday home game against Akron ... Both matches start at 7 p.m.
►MAC TOURNAMENT BREAKDOWN PART 1: The Cardinals enter the final week of the 2014 regular season poised to earn the No. 4 seed in next week's Mid-American Conference Tournament ... Ball State owns a 9-5 league record and trails Ohio (14-0 MAC), Northern Illinois (13-1) and Miami (11-3) in the standings ... The Cardinals cannot move up in the rankings, as they cannot catch NIU or Ohio, and can only tie Miami with the RedHawks holding the tiebreaker by virtue of a head-to-head victory.
►MAC TOURNAMENT BREAKDOWN PART 2: Eastern Michigan (8-6 MAC) is the only team with a chance to overtake the Cardinals for the fourth seed ... Ball State can lock up the No. 4 seed with a win at Toledo or a pair of victories ... If Ball State loses at Toledo and both teams finish the season at 10-6, EMU would win the tiebreaker as both teams would be 1-1 head-to-head (Tiebreaker No. 1 is head-to-head), both would be 6-4 in the division (Tiebreaker No. 2 is division winning percentage) and the Eagles would be 1-1 versus Northern Illinois, while the Cardinals would be 0-2 (Tiebreaker No. 3 is winning percentage versus ranked conference teams top to bottom) ... If both teams finish at 9-7, Ball State wins Tiebreaker No. 2 based on a 6-4 division record, compared to a 5-5 mark for Eastern Michigan ... Western Michigan (7-7 MAC) and Kent State (7-7 MAC) can tie Ball State in the standings, but the Cardinals hold the tiebreakers over both teams and would hold the advantage in any three or four team tiebreaker the two teams are involved in.
►FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live stats are available for both of this week's matches and will be linked to the live stats page on BallStateSports.com ... Toledo will offer live streaming video (pay-per-view) of Thursday's match, while fans can watch Saturday's match versus Akron with a Ball State All Access subscription ... Sports Link Radio WCRD 91.3 FM will also cover Saturday's match against Akron live and free over the airwaves and on both BallStateSports.com and WCRD.net ... Rob Connett will handle the play-by-play duties for the student-run production, with Andy Wright serving as the color analyst ... 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 at Toledo with an 841-539-2 (.609) all-time record ... The Cardinals boast a 102-50 (.671) mark under fifth-year head coach Steve Shondell, including a 54-24 (.692) ledger in MAC play.
►IN THE MAC: Ball State holds a 339-170 (.666) all-time record in Mid-American Conference matches, which ranks second among all league schools ... Western Michigan is first with a 352-157 (.692) all-time league mark, while Akron is ninth at 161-222 (.420) and Toledo is 11th at 153-356 (.301).
►HOME SWEET HOME: Ball State owns a 231-69 (.770) all-time record in Worthen Arena, including a 171-40 (.810) mark versus MAC opponents ... The Cardinals are 7-3 at home this season, including wins over league rivals Eastern Michigan (3-2), Central Michigan (3-1), Toledo (3-1), Kent State (3-0) and Western Michigan (3-2).
►FROM THE ROAD: Ball State holds a 5-6 record in true road matches this season and an 8-9 overall record away from Worthen Arena ... The Cardinals have a 4-3 ledger in league road contest this season with wins at Western Michigan (3-2), Buffalo (3-1), Bowling Green (3-0) and Central Michigan (3-1).
►VERSUS TOLEDO: Ball State holds a 60-7 lead in the all-time series versus Toledo, including a 3-1 (25-12, 20-25, 25-17, 25-20) win in the first meeting this season at Worthen Arena (Oct. 9) ... However, it was the Rockets who had Ball State's 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 was just the second time in the 67-match series in which Toledo won back-to-back matches, with the only other coming in 1983 ... Ball State strung together a 42-match winning streak over the Rockets from Nov. 13, 1987 to Oct. 2, 2008 ... Ball State is 25-3 all-time in matches played in Toledo.
►VERSUS AKRON: The Cardinals hold a commanding 30-4 lead in the all-time series versus Akron, despite the Zips claiming a 3-1 (25-17, 25-19, 9-25, 26-24) win in the lone meeting last season (Nov. 9) ... Ball State holds a 14-1 edge in matches played in Muncie, with all 15 previous meetings being played in Worthen Arena ... Ball State has won the last three meetings on its home court, while Akron's lone win in Worthen Arena came Nov. 9, 2008.
QUICK HITS
● Ball State enters Thursday's match at Toledo with a 15-12 (9-5 MAC) record ... The Cardinals scored a 3-1 win at Central Michigan last Friday, before suffering a 3-2 setback at Eastern Michigan Saturday ... Hayley Benson leads the squad with 314 kills and a 2.91 kills-per-set average, while Alex Fuelling averages a team-best 3.25 digs per set.
● Toledo enters Thursday's match with a 1-26 (0-14 MAC) record ... The Rockets suffered road losses at Eastern Michigan (3-1) and Central Michigan (3-0) last weekend ... Alyssa Ehrhardt leads Toledo with 268 kills and a 2.98 kills-per-set average, while Lauren Bakaitis has a team-best 3.97 digs-per-set average.
● Akron enters the week with an 8-21 (2-12 MAC) record and will play at Buffalo Thursday before traveling to Muncie Saturday ... The Zips suffered a pair of 3-1 home losses to Ohio and Kent State last weekend ... Mary Delich leads Akron with 204 kills and has a 2.04 kills-per-set average, while Callie Mack averages a team-best 3.41 digs per set.
● Ball State's 3-0 win at Bowling Green (Oct. 25) marked the program's 100th victory under head coach Steve Shondell, who has amassed a 102-50 (.671) record over his five-year collegiate coaching tenure … A 2007 inductee into the American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame for his efforts in 34 seasons as the head girls varsity coach at the Burris Laboratory School, Shondell is just the third coach in program history to amass 100 career wins.
● A First Team All-MAC selection last season, Hayley Benson is way ahead of her pace from 2013 which saw her finish MAC play with 161 kills and a .344 attack percentage ... Over Ball State's first 14 league matches this season, Benson has already smashed 191 kills and is hitting .438 (191-30-368) ... In 2013, Benson had just 136 kills and was hitting at a .339 (136-36-295) clip through 14 MAC matches.
● Since moving back to the libero position for the first match versus Eastern Michigan (Oct. 3), junior Kati Vasalakis has dominated the Ball State backcourt, averaging 4.48 digs per set and posting a .956 (284-for-297) reception percentage ... She has collected 20-or-more digs in four of the 12 matches, including a career-high 33 digs in last Saturday's match at Eastern Michigan.
● Kati Vasalakis' 33 digs in at Eastern Michigan (Nov. 8) was the highest dig total for a Ball State player since Catie Fredrich recorded 33 in the Oct. 20, 2012 match at Miami ... In addition, the team's 86 digs at EMU was the most in a match since the Cardinals posted 88 in a home contest versus Eastern Michigan Nov. 2, 2013.
● Junior setter Jenna Spadafora enters the weekend ranked second in the MAC with an 11.46 assists-per-set average in league-only matches ... Spadafora has handed out 50-or-more assists in six career matches, with five coming in MAC play this season.
● Freshman outside hitter Sabrina Mangapora's two highest career kill totals have come against Western Michigan ... Mangapora blasted a career-best 18 kills in the Nov. 1 match versus WMU, while connecting for a career-high .536 (18-3-28) rate of success ... In the first meeting in Kalamazoo (Sept.26), Mangapora tallied a then career-best 16 kills, while posting career-highs of five solo blocks and six total blocks ... Mangapora is averaging 3.40 kills and 0.70 blocks per set versus the Broncos, while hitting .387 ... For the year, she is averaging 2.63 kills and 0.35 blocks per set, while hitting .215.
