Ball State University Athletics
WVB Battles For Top Spot In MAC West This Weekend
October 01, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Match 17
Ball State hosts Northern Illinois
Friday, Oct. 2 (7 p.m.)
Muncie, Ind. (Worthen Arena)
ESPN3 Live Video | SL Digital Audio | Live Stats
Match 18
Ball State hosts Western Michigan
Saturday, Oct. 3 (7 p.m.)
Muncie, Ind. (Worthen Arena)
SL Digital Audio | Live Stats
►THE WEEK AHEAD: Only three teams finished the opening weekend of Mid-American Conference play with unblemished records, and two of them square off Friday night in Worthen Arena when Ball State and Northern Illinois battle for the top spot in the MAC West Division with a 7 p.m. first serve ... The Cardinals close their first home weekend since the start of the season Saturday, with a 7 p.m. first serve versus Western Michigan.
►THE THREE TO BEAT: In addition to Ball State and Northern Illinois, three-time defending MAC Regular Season and East Division champion Ohio opened league play with a pair of victories ... Combined, these three programs have won the last six MAC regular season titles, with Ohio claiming four (2009, 2012-14) and Ball State (2010) and Northern Illinois (2011) each earning one.
►GOING THE DISTANCE: Ball State opened MAC play with a pair of five-set victories at Toledo (Sept. 24) and at Akron (Sept. 26) ... It marked the first time in program history the Cardinals opened league play with back-to-back five set victories ... Ball State enters the week with a 5-1 record in five-setters in 2015, which is the program's best mark in five-set matches since the 2010 squad finished the year with a 7-1 record on their way to earning the MAC Regular Season Championship.
►IN THE FIFTH SET: The Ball State offense is connecting for a .317 (53-13-126) attack percentage in fifth sets this season, while limiting its opposition to a .176 (40-18-125) rate of success ... Senior middle Kelly Hopkins leads the Cardinals with nine fifth-set kills, while both senior outside Alex Fuelling and junior outside Mackenzie Kitchel have eight ... Ball State also holds a 61-to-46 advantage in digs, a 9-to-5 lead in team blocks and a 6-to-5 edge in aces over its opponents in the fifth set.
►HOPKINS HAS CAREER WEEK AT THE NET: Senior middle Kelly Hopkins enters the week ranked first in the MAC in league-only matches with a 1.60 blocks-per-set average ... Hopkins tallied a career-high nine total blocks at Toledo (2 solo & 7 assists), while producing seven at Akron (3 solo & 4 assists) ... Hopkins' three solo blocks at Akron were also a career high, while her seven block assists at Toledo tied a career mark ... Overall, her 16 total blocks last week are the most Hopkins has logged in back-to-back matches in her career.
►VASALAKIS DIGS TOLEDO: Senior libero Kati Vasalakis turned in one of her best career matches in last Thursday's win at Toledo, collecting a season-high 31 digs ... The effort marks the second time in her career Vasalakis has earned 30-or-more digs, with the other coming in a 33-dig performance at Eastern Michigan (Nov. 8, 2014) ... For her career, Vasalakis is averaging 3.44 digs per set versus Toledo, which is second only to her 4.14 average against Eastern Michigan among league schools.
►IN THE MAC: Ball State enters Friday's match with a 343-170 (.669) all-time record in MAC matches ... Western Michigan is first on the list with a 355-158 (.692) all-time league mark, while Northern Illinois is third at 226-136 (.624) ... Northern Illinois and Western Michigan are the only league programs to hold leads in the all-time series versus Ball State with NIU ahead 31-29 and WMU up 43-42.
►SERIES VS. NORTHERN ILLINOIS: The Huskies hold a 31-29 lead in the all-time series versus Ball State after winning both regular season meetings in 2014 ... NIU swept the Cardinals in DeKalb 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-15) Sept. 27 and earned a 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-20) victory in Worthen Arena Oct. 31 ... Ball State swept the 2013 regular season contests to briefly even the series after snapping a four-match Huskies winning streak ... The Cardinals hold a 16-7 advantage in matches played in Muncie, including a 13-5 edge in Worthen Arena.
►SERIES VS. WESTERN MICHIGAN: The Broncos hold a slim 43-42 lead in the all-time series versus Ball State after scoring a 3-1 (25-12, 25-20, 21-25, 26-24) win over the Cardinals in the second round of the 2014 MAC Tournament (Nov. 22) on their way to the title of the event ... During the 2014 regular season, it was the Cardinals who held the upper hand with a 3-2 (16-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-18, 17-15) win in Kalamazoo (Sept. 26) and another 3-2 (25-22, 18-25, 25-18, 21-25, 17-15) win in Muncie (Nov. 1) ... Overall, Ball State has won the last four regular season meetings, while the Broncos have eliminated the Cardinals from the MAC Tournament in each of the past two years ... The Cardinals hold a 23-14 lead in matches played in Muncie, including an 18-6 advantage in Worthen Arena.
►BALL STATE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL ON ESPN3: Friday's contest versus Northern Illinois will be the third of five home matches carried live on ESPN3 ... Joel Godett (play-by-play) and four-year letterwinner (2007-10) and one-year student assistant coach (2011) Alyssa Rio (analyst) were treated to quite the match in the 2015 EPSN3 debut, as the Cardinals rallied from two sets down to top New Mexico (Aug. 29) ... They called another exciting match versus in-state rival IPFW (Sept. 16) the second time out, as the Cardinals claimed another five-set victory ... Ball State's other two matches set for ESPN3 broadcasts are Miami (Oct. 23) and Toledo (Oct. 29) ... ESPN3 is accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast (via the WatchESPN app), Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: The Ball State women's volleyball team enters Friday's match with an 851-548-2 (.608) all-time record ... The Cardinals boast a 112-59 (.655) mark under sixth-year head coach Steve Shondell, including a 58-24 (.707) ledger in MAC play.
►MILESTONE MATCH: Last Thursday's win at Toledo marked the 1,400 match in program history … Ball State is 3-2 in “milestone” matches since 2000, winning the program's 1,000th match (3-1 at Western Michigan on Nov. 1, 2002) and 1,100th match (3-0 at Toledo on Nov. 5, 2005) ... Ball State lost both the 1,200th match (0-3 at No. 19 Purdue on Aug. 28, 2009) and 1,300th match (0-3 versus Creighton on Sept. 7, 2013), before picking up the victory in the 1,400 match (3-2 at Toledo, Sept. 24, 2015).
QUICK HITS
● Ball State head coach Steve Shondell is in his fourth season as a voting member of the AVCA Division I Coaches Top-25 Poll.
● Freshman middle Meg Starling tallied a career-high tying seven kills in the first set at No. 22 Purdue (Sept. 18) ... The effort ties as the highest single-set kill total by a Ball State player this season, with Alex Fuelling and Bailey Baumer both scoring seven kills in the third set versus Albany (Aug. 28) ... Fuelling also recorded seven kills in the first set versus FAU (Sept. 4).
● With 48 digs last week, senior libero Kati Vasalakis raised her career total to 995 which continues to rank her 16th in program history … Vasalakis needs 20 more digs to pass Kylee Baker's (2010-13) career total of 1,014 for 15th on Ball State's all-time list.
● Senior setter Jenna Spadafora enters the week ranked 10th in program history with 2,282 career assists and a 6.56 career assists-per-set average.
● Ball State's offense connected for a season-high .249 (71-28-173) rate of success versus South Dakota (Sept. 19), marking its best showing since a .340 (45-12-97) effort at Toledo Nov. 14, 2014.
● In the win over IPFW (Sept. 16), five Cardinals collected double-digit digs for the first time since Oct. 6, 2012 ... Kati Vasalakis and sophomore defensive specialist Bailey Baumer tied for team-high honors with 18 digs, while Jenna Spadafora added 14, sophomore right side Brooklyn Goodsel recorded 13 and senior defensive specialist Marissa Hine logged 12.
● Since 1972, the Ball State women's volleyball program has competed in 33 of the 50 U.S. states, and has also played a tournament in Washington, D.C. ... This season, the Cardinals checked the states of Tennessee (Lipscomb Invitational - Sept. 4-5) and Washington (Cougar Challenge - Sept. 11-12) its list of states remaining to visit.
SHONDELL QUOTABLES
● CONFIDENCE FROM LAST WEEK: “Winning those two matches was huge for us from a confidence standpoint. When you are so close to going either way, 2-0 or 0-2 for the week, you come back feeling so much better. Going into a weekend like we have coming up, with two rivalry opponents which are great teams and great programs, going 2-0 gives us so much more confidence then had we come up a little short.”
● FIFTH-SET EFFORT: “It's amazing how well we play in the fifth set. Our hitting percentage skyrockets compared to what we do the first four games. It's a real mystery to me how we can perform so well in those fifth games and hit at such a high percentage. I would like to be able to attribute it to our experience, having our seniors on the court.”
● PLAY OF KELLY HOPKINS: “Kelly has been a real savior for us. She has been the one player we can count on match in, match out over the past three weeks.”
● NIU & WMU WEEKEND: “We will have two big battles on our hands this weekend. They are going to be typical Ball State versus Northern Illinois, Western Michigan matches. All the way to the end, fight to the finish, hope you get a break and hope your home crowd can help.”
