Ball State University Athletics
WVB Hosts Miami & Bowling Green This Weekend
October 22, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Match 23
Ball State hosts Miami
Friday, Oct. 23 (7 p.m.)
Muncie, Ind. (Worthen Arena)
ESPN3 | SL Digital Audio | Live Stats
Match 24
Ball State hosts Bowling Green
Saturday, Oct. 24 (7 p.m.)
Muncie, Ind. (Worthen Arena)
SL Digital Audio | Live Stats
►THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team opens a four-match home stand Friday, when it host Mid-American Conference East Division rival Miami in a 7 p.m. first serve which will be broadcast live on ESPN3 ... Saturday, the Cardinals return to action with another 7 p.m. first serve, this time versus Bowling Green.
►DIG PINK: In conjunction with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Ball State women's volleyball will host its annual “Dig Pink” match Friday versus Miami ... The Cardinals, who will be wearing pink warm-up shirts and pink accents for the match, have once again teamed up with the Side-Out Foundation to raise money in the fight against breast cancer ... Fans, help the program reach its goal of $1000 in donations by contributing at the following link: https://www.side-out.org/cb/campaigns/campaign/10584
►MIDWAY THROUGH MAC PLAY: The Cardinals closed the first half of the 2015 MAC season with a 3-5 league record, which would have them as the No. 8 seed in the MAC Tournament if the season ended today ... Ohio leads the league at 8-0, while Northern Illinois is second at 7-1, with its lone loss coming to the Cardinals ... Kent State, Miami and Western Michigan all have 6-2 league records, while Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan hold the sixth and seven slots at 4-4 ... Trailing the Cardinals in the standings are Buffalo (2-6), Akron (1-7), Bowling Green (1-7) and Toledo (0-8) ... The top eight seeds advance to the 2015 MAC Tournament which will be hosted by Ohio Nov. 19-22.
►GOING THE DISTANCE: Ball State enters the week with a 5-3 record in five-set matches this season, after losing a pair of hard-fought battles at Ohio and Kent State last weekend … Ball State opened MAC play with five-set victories at Toledo (Sept. 24) and at Akron (Sept. 26), marking the first time in program history the Cardinals opened league play with back-to-back five set victories … Ball State is 24-15 in five-set matches in the Steve Shondell era, including a 15-9 mark in MAC regular season play.
►IN THE FIFTH SET: Despite the pair of five-set losses last weekend, the Ball State offense is continuing to play its best in the pressure-packed fifth frame, connecting for a .317 (68-17-161) attack percentage in the fifth set … In addition, the defense is limiting opposing teams to a .221 (60-24-163) attacking mark in the fifth set, including a .167 (32-14-108) rate of success in its five victories … Ball State managed to out-hit Ohio in the fifth frame last Friday, .238 (8-3-21) to .227 (10-5-22), while posting a .429 (7-1-14) effort in last Saturday's loss at Kent State … Senior middle Kelly Hopkins and senior outside attacker Alex Fuelling lead the Ball State offense in the fifth frame with 12 kills each, while hitting .417 (12-2-24) and .308 (12-4-26), respectively … Ball State also holds a 72-to-60 advantage in digs and an 11-to-7 lead in team blocks over its opponents in the fifth set.
►IN THE FIRST FOUR SETS: Outside the fifth set, Ball State's second-best attack percentage comes in the third game, where the Cardinals are attacking for a .177 (284-133-854) rate of success ... The team is hitting .162 (286-157-796) in the opening set, .160 (270-143-794) in the second stanza and .172 (182-90-535) in the fourth frame this season.
►HITTING THEIR MARK: The Cardinals connected for a season-high .370 (51-14-100) attack percentage in the Oct. 2 victory over MAC West Division preseason favorite Northern Illinois … It marked the team's best attack percentage since tallying a .376 (43-9-93) rate of success against Illinois-Chicago (Sept. 14, 2013) … Overall, it is the fifth-best mark for Ball State in the Steve Shondell era.
1. .419 (55-11-105) vs. The Citadel (Aug. 31, 2013)
2. .390 (39-9-77) at Kent State (Oct. 15, 2011)
3. .384 (50-12-99) vs. Murray State (Sept. 3, 2011)
4. .376 (43-9-93) vs. Illinois-Chicago (Sept. 14, 2013)
5. .370 (51-14-100) vs. Northern Illinois (Oct. 2, 2015)
1. .419 (55-11-105) vs. The Citadel (Aug. 31, 2013)
2. .390 (39-9-77) at Kent State (Oct. 15, 2011)
3. .384 (50-12-99) vs. Murray State (Sept. 3, 2011)
4. .376 (43-9-93) vs. Illinois-Chicago (Sept. 14, 2013)
5. .370 (51-14-100) vs. Northern Illinois (Oct. 2, 2015)
►REACHING 1,000: Ball State senior libero Kati Vasalakis become the 16th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000 career digs mark versus Northern Illinois (Oct. 2) ... She enters the week with 1,108 career digs which is 12th on Ball State's all-time list and one behind Katie Butts (1999-2002) career total of 1,109 for 11th ... Vasalakis needs 12 more digs to break into the top 10 in program history.
►TRIPLING UP: In the Oct. 3 match versus Western Michigan, senior setter Jenna Spadafora registered 10 kills, 13 digs and 41 assists for her first career triple double … Prior to the contest, the closest Spadafora had been to a triple double was one kill shy, earning nine kills, 13 digs and 42 assists in a 3-2 loss to Missouri State (Sept. 12, 2014) ... She also fell one kill shy of a triple double in last Saturday's match at Kent State (Oct. 17), registering nine kills, 13 digs and 44 assists … Spadafora's triple double marks Ball State's first triple double since Oct. 19, 2002, when then-setter Stacie Baldwin (2001-04) produced 10 kills, 14 digs and 70 assists in a 3-2 victory over Eastern Michigan in Worthen Arena.
►SERIES VS. MIAMI: Ball State holds a 42-33 lead in the all-time series versus Miami ... Last season, the RedHawks swept the Cardinals 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 32-30) in an Oct. 24 match played in Oxford ... Ball State has won the last two meetings played in Worthen Arena, including a 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23) victory Oct. 26, 2013 ... Friday's match will be the fifth meeting between the two programs on Oct. 23, with Ball State earning wins in 1984 (3-1; 11-15, 15-6, 15-11, 15-12) and 2002 (3-2; 28-30, 30-25, 30-26, 25-30, 15-13), and Miami picking up victories in 1979 (3-1; 15-5, 10-15, 15-10, 15-5) and 1990 (3-1; 15-12, 15-12, 14-16, 15-10) ... Overall, the Cardinals hold a 21-13 lead in matches played in Muncie, while head coach Steve Shondell is 3-2 all-time versus Miami.
►SERIES VS. BOWLING GREEN: Ball State is 38-17-1 all-time versus Bowling Green ... Last season, the Cardinals swept the Falcons 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-19) in an Oct. 25 match played in Bowling Green ... BGSU has won four of the last five matches played in Worthen Arena, including a 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 14-25, 25-19) victory in its latest trip to Muncie Oct. 25, 2013 ... Saturday's match will be the third meeting between the two programs on Oct. 24, with Ball State earning a 3-1 (27-30, 30-27, 30-18, 30-27) win in 2001 and Bowling Green scoring a 3-2 (16-25, 25-20, 25-14, 20-25, 17-15) victory in 2008 ... Overall, the Cardinals hold a 16-9 lead in matches played in Muncie, while head coach Steve Shondell is 4-1 all-time versus the Falcons.
►BALL STATE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL ON ESPN3: The Cardinals have two more scheduled appearances on ESPN3 this season, starting with Friday's match versus Miami ... Ball State's match versus Toledo (Oct. 29) is also slated to be carried on the platform ... Joel Godett (play-by-play) and four-year letterwinner (2007-10) and one-year student assistant coach (2011) Alyssa Rio (analyst) call the action for the Cardinals' home matches ... Overall, Ball State is 3-1 in ESPN3 matches this season, including 3-2 wins over New Mexico (Aug. 29) and IPFW (Sept. 16), as well as a sweep of Northern Illinois (Oct. 2) ... The Cardinals' loss came by a score of 3-1 at Central Michigan (Oct. 9) ... 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 852-553-2 (.606) all-time record ... The Cardinals boast a 113-64 (.638) mark under sixth-year head coach Steve Shondell, including a 59-29 (.670) ledger in MAC play.
►IN THE MAC: Ball State enters Friday's match with a 344-175 (.663) all-time record in MAC matches ... Western Michigan is first on the list with a 360-159 (.694) all-time league mark ... Miami is fourth all-time at 316-203 (.609), while Bowling Green is sixth at 276-243 (.532).
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.
● Ball State head coach Steve Shondell is in his fourth season as a voting member of the AVCA Division I Coaches Top-25 Poll.
● 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 in 2015, with Alex Fuelling and Bailey Baumer both scoring seven kills in the third set versus Albany (Aug. 28) ... Fuelling also had seven kills in set one versus FAU (Sept. 4) and set four at Kent State (Oct. 17).
● Senior setter Jenna Spadafora enters Friday's match ranked ninth in program history with 2,521 career assists ... She needs 129 to pass both Jacqui Seidel's (2010-13) and Janell Lorenz's (1984-87) career total of 2,649 for seventh on Ball State's all-time list.
● Ball State continues to rank first in league-only matches with a 2.23 team blocks-per-set average ... Senior Kelly Hopkins leads the team and ranks third in MAC-only play with a 1.09 average, while four other Cardinals average at least 0.50 blocks per set in conference play.
SHONDELL QUOTABLES
● ON LAST WEEKEND: “I thought it was our best performance in back-to-back matches the entire year. We played really well in both matches, and exceptionally well at Ohio.”
● CUTTING DOWN ERRORS: “We have been working hard on trying to reduce our errors. As we continue to improve, we are going to be able to put ourselves in a position to beat any team we play. This year, we have proven we can play with the top teams in the conference; we have just been our own worst enemy with errors at critical times. Last weekend, we were able to cut down our errors and were in a position to win matches versus two of the top teams in the league.”
Players Mentioned
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