Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Travels To CMU & EMU This Weekend
October 07, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Match 19
Ball State at Central Michigan
Friday, Oct. 9 (7 p.m.)
Mount Pleasant, Mich. (McGuirk Arena)
ESPN3 Live Video | Live Stats
Match 20
Ball State at Eastern Michigan
Saturday, Oct. 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Ypsilanti, Mich. (Convocation Center)
Live Video | Live Stats
►THE WEEK AHEAD: After a brief two-match home stand, the Ball State women's volleyball team opens a four-match road swing this weekend with stops at Central Michigan (Friday at 7 p.m.) and Eastern Michigan (Saturday at 7:30 p.m.) ... The Cardinals enter the week tied atop the MAC West Division standings with both Northern Illinois and Western Michigan, as all three own 3-1 league records.
►HITTING THEIR MARK: The Ball State women's volleyball team connected for a season-high .370 (51-14-100) attack percentage in last Friday's 3-0 victory over Mid-American Conference West Division preseason favorite Northern Illinois … It marks the team's best attack percentage in 67 matches, since tallying a .376 (43-9-93) rate of success against Illinois-Chicago … 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)
►TRIPLING UP: In last Saturday's match versus Western Michigan, senior setter Jenna Spadafora registered 10 kills, 13 digs and 41 assists for her first career triple double … Prior to Saturday's 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) … 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.
►REACHING 1,000: In addition to the Cardinals' success on offense last weekend, senior libero Kati Vasalakis reached a milestone of her own in the backcourt against Northern Illinois last Friday, tying for match-high honors with 10 digs to become just the 16th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000 career dig mark … With a team-high 21 more digs last Saturday versus Western Michigan, Vasalakis' career total now stands at 1,026 which moves her into 15th on Ball State's all-time list, passing Kylee Baker's (2010-13) career total of 1,014.
►MORE ON THE BALL STATE DEFENSE: The Cardinals enter the week allowing the second-lowest opponent attack percentage in the MAC at .198 ... In 16 matches, the Cardinals have held opponents below their season average for attack percentage 11 times ... Ball State's best defensive effort came versus Florida Atlantic (Sept. 4) as it held the Owls to a season-low .069 (40-31-131) rate of success ... FAU is currently hitting .220 for the year.
►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.
►IN THE MAC: Ball State enters Friday's match with a 344-171 (.668) all-time record in MAC matches ... Western Michigan is first on the list with a 357-158 (.693) all-time league mark ... Central Michigan is seventh on the all-time list at 261-254 (.507), followed by Eastern Michigan in eighth at 231-284 (.494).
►SERIES VS. CENTRAL MICHIGAN: Ball State holds a 42-30 advantage in the all-time series versus Central Michigan, including a current four-match winning streak ... Overall, the Cardinals have won nine of the last 11 meetings ... Last season, Ball State earned a pair of four-set wins over the Chippewas by a scores of 3-1 (25-15, 24-26, 25-21, 25-18) in Muncie (Oct. 4) and 3-1 (25-23, 25-17, 21-25, 25-20) in Mount Pleasant (Nov. 7) ... Ball State holds an 18-13 lead in matches played on CMU's home court, with the Chippewas' last win coming on its own floor by a score of 3-2 (29-31, 25-23, 29-27, 24-26, 17-15) Nov. 10, 2012.
►SERIES VS. EASTERN MICHIGAN: Ball State holds a 50-24 lead in the all-time series versus Eastern Michigan after the team's split a pair of five-set thrillers last season ... The Cardinals struck first with a 3-2 (25-16, 16-25, 15-25, 27-25, 15-13) win in Muncie (Oct. 3), while the Eagles rebounded with a 3-2 (14-25, 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 15-10) victory in Ypsilanti (Nov. 8) ... Ball State is 18-15 all-time in matches played on EMU's home court, and had swept the Eagles in each of its prior to trips to the EMU Convocation Center before last year's five-set loss.
►BALL STATE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL ON ESPN3: Friday's match at Central Michigan will be Ball State's fourth on ESPN3 this season ... The Cardinals are 3-0 when broadcast by ESPN3 in 2015, including 3-2 wins over New Mexico (Aug. 29) and IPFW (Sept. 16), as well as last Friday's sweep of MAC West Division preseason favorite Northern Illinois ... Ball State has two more home matches set for ESPN3 broadcasts as well; 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 852-549-2 (.608) all-time record ... The Cardinals boast a 113-60 (.653) mark under sixth-year head coach Steve Shondell, including a 59-25 (.702) ledger in MAC play.
►MILESTONE MATCH: Ball State's win at Toledo (Sept. 24) 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 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).
● With 41 assists versus Western Michigan (Oct. 3), senior setter Jenna Spadafora moved into ninth in program history with 2,363 career assists ... Spadafora needs 287 more assists 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 enters the week ranked first in the MAC in league-only matches with a 2.76 blocks-per-set average ... Senior Kelly Hopkins leads the team and ranks second in MAC-only play with a 1.29 average, while freshman Emily Holland is tied for eighth at 0.87.
● Freshman Brooklyn Goodsel led the Cardinals with 26 kills and a 3.71 kills-per-set average last week ... She smashed a career-high 15 kills versus Western Michigan, while blasting 11 kills and hitting a career-best .588 versus Northern Illinois.
● 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) off its list of states remaining to visit.
SHONDELL QUOTABLES
● ON THIS WEEKEND'S MATCHES “We have a pair of really tough matches ahead of us this weekend. We know we are going to have to play well, compete hard and find a way to win. There are no easy matches in the MAC, especially when you are on the road. You go into each contest knowing you have a 50-50 shot to win. We have to go in mentally prepared, expecting a tough match night in and night out.”
● ON HOW THE TEAM LOOKS AT MID-SEASON: “I'm really happy with where we are. As a coach, you have to be satisfied, because there are going to be ups and downs throughout the season. With four or five freshman in the lineup, along with four or five seniors, there are going to be growing pains. We are reducing our errors every weekend, and have really improved our serving as the year has progressed.”
● ON TEAM'S FOCUS: “We are focusing on being at our best entering the conference tournament. By the end of the season, we've got a chance to be really good if we continue to mature like we have. We've talked about it since the beginning; we want to get better every week, qualify for the tournament and then go in there and try to win it.”
