Ball State University Athletics
Volleyball Travels North To Face CMU & EMU
November 05, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
►THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to the road this weekend for 7 p.m. matches at Central Michigan (Friday) and Eastern Michigan (Saturday).
►QUICK LOOK AT THE MAC WEST STANDINGS: Northern Illinois enters the week rank first in the MAC West Division with an 11-1 overall record ... NIU needs a win or a Ball State (8-4 MAC) loss to secure the division title ... The Cardinals still have a slim shot to win the title, but must win out and have NIU lose all four of its remaining conference matches ... WMU is third in the division at 7-5, followed by Eastern Michigan (6-6), Central Michigan (4-8) and Toledo (0-12) ... Ohio is the overall conference leader at 12-0.
►FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live stats are available for both of this weekend's matches and will be linked to the live stats page on BallStateSports.com ... Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan will offer live streaming video (pay-per-view) of this weekend's matches ... Fans can also follow the program on twitter @BallStateWVB and @BallStateSports.
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: The Ball State women's volleyball team enters Friday's match at Central Michigan with an 840-538-2 (.609) all-time record ... The Cardinals boast a 101-49 (.673) mark under fifth-year head coach Steve Shondell, including a 53-23 (.697) ledger in MAC play.
►IN THE MAC: Ball State holds a 338-169 (.667) all-time record in Mid-American Conference matches, which ranks second among all league schools ... Western Michigan is first with a 352-155 (.694) all-time league mark, while Central Michigan is seventh at 259-248 (.511) and Eastern Michigan is eighth at 227-280 (.447).
►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 4-5 record in true road matches this season and a 7-8 overall record away from Worthen Arena ... The Cardinals, who play the next three MAC matches on the road, have a 3-2 ledger in league road contest this season with wins at Western Michigan (3-2), Buffalo (3-1) and Bowling Green (3-0).
►VERSUS CENTRAL MICHIGAN: Ball State extended its series lead to 41-30 over Central Michigan with a 3-1 (25-15, 24-26, 25-21, 25-18) win in the first meeting this season at Worthen Arena (Oct. 4) ... The Cardinals have won three straight in the series, and eight of the last 10 meetings ... Ball State is 17-13 all-time in matches played in Mount Pleasant, Mich., including a 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-19) victory last season.
►VERSUS EASTERN MICHIGAN: Ball State extended its series lead to 50-23 over Eastern Michigan with a 3-2 (25-16, 16-25, 16-25, 27-25, 15-13) victory in the first meeting this season at Worthen Arena (Oct. 3) ... The Cardinals have won four straight in the series, and seven of the last 10 meetings ... Ball State is 18-14 all-time in matches played in Ypsilanti, Mich., including wins in each of the last two seasons.
QUICK HITS
● Ball State enters Friday's match at Central Michigan with a 14-11 (8-4 MAC) record ... The Cardinals suffered a 3-1 loss to Northern Illinois last Friday, before rebounding with a 3-2 win over Western Michigan Saturday ... Hayley Benson leads the squad with 284 kills and a 2.87 kills-per-set average, while Alex Fuelling averages a team-best 3.30 digs per set.
● Central Michigan enters Friday's match with a 9-15 (4-8 MAC) record ... Last week, the Chippewas suffered five-set losses at Eastern Michigan Thursday and at Kent State Saturday ... Kaitlyn McIntyre leads CMU with 275 kills and a 3.16 kills-per-set average, while Kristen Reenders has a team-best 4.74 digs-per-set average.
● Eastern Michigan enters the weekend with a 15-11 (6-6 MAC) record and will play Toledo Friday before hosting the Cardinals Saturday ... Last week, the Eagles secured a 3-2 home win over Central Michigan Thursday, before dropping a 3-1 decision at league-leading Ohio Saturday ... Stacey Perinar leads EMU with 330 kills and a 3.30 kills-per-set average, while Corynne Smith averages a team-high 4.59 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 101-49 (.673) 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.
● Freshman outside hitter Sabrina Mangapora's two highest career kill totals have come against Western Michigan ... Last Saturday, Mangapora blasted a career-best 18 kills 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 2.61 kills and 0.34 blocks per set, while hitting .210.
● Junior middle Kelly Hopkins turned in a pair of impressive performances last weekend, averaging 3.22 kills and 0.89 blocks per set, while hitting a team-best .415 (29-7-53) ... She blasted 13 kills versus Northern Illinois (Oct. 31) and 16 kills against Western Michigan (16) ... Her eight total blocks on the weekend also led the Cardinals.
● After being limited to 11 kills and a .192 (11-6-26) attack percentage versus Northern Illinois last Friday, junior middle Hayley Benson rebounded with one of the best performances of her career against Western Michigan ... She led all players in the match with a career-high 19 kills, while hitting for a .516 (19-3-31) rate of success ... Overall, Benson has blasted double-digit kills in 13 of Ball State's last 14 matches, with her nine kills at Bowling Green (Oct. 25) being the lowest total.
● 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 12 league matches this season, Benson has already smashed 161 kills and is hitting .449 (161-25-303) ... In 2013, Benson had just 110 kills and was hitting at a .350 (110-28-234) clip through 12 MAC matches.
● Since moving back to the libero position for the Eastern Michigan (Oct. 3) match, junior Kati Vasalakis has dominated the Ball State backcourt, averaging 4.05 digs per set and posting a .952 (240-for-252) reception percentage ... She has collected 20-or-more digs in two of the 10 matches, including a career-high tying 24 versus EMU ... Prior to the switch, Vasalakis has only tallied 20-or-more digs in one other career match.
● Junior setter Jenna Spadafora enters the weekend ranked first in the MAC with an 11.62 assists-per-set average in league-only matches ... Spadafora has handed out 50-or-more assists in five career matches, including a career-high tying 60 versus Western Michigan (Nov. 1).
● Jenna Spadafora turned in an impressive fifth set versus Western Michigan last Saturday, as she nearly served the Cardinals to the victory ... With Ball State leading 5-4 in the frame, Spadafora went back to the service line and blasted four consecutive aces to push the score to 9-4 ... The four straight aces tied Spadafora's previous career-high for aces in a match set Oct. 12, 2012 versus Kent State.
● After Western Michigan battled back to even the score at 14, Jenna Spadafora came up with arguably the biggest play of the match, as she sliced a kill through the WMU defense on a ball which was originally blocked by the Broncos and dug high and tight to the net by Hayley Benson ... WMU scored the following point, to tie the set at 15, but Spadafora would set up kills from Benson and Sabrina Mangapora to secure the Ball State victory.
