Ball State University Athletics
WVB Heads West For Cougar Challenge
September 10, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Match 8
Ball State vs. Utah Valley
Friday, Sept. 11 (1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT)
Pullman, Wash. (Bohler Gym)
Live Stats
Match 9
Ball State at Washington State
Friday, Sept. 11 (10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT)
Pullman, Wash. (Bohler Gym)
Live Stats | Live Video
Match 10
Ball State vs. Morehead State
Saturday, Sept. 12 (7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT)
Pullman, Wash. (Bohler Gym)
Live Stats
►THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to the road this weekend, when it heads to Pullman, Wash., for the Washington State University Cougar Challenge ... The Cardinals open the two-day event Friday with matches versus Utah Valley (1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT) and host Washington State (10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT) ... Ball State ends the tournament Saturday versus Morehead State (7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT).
►A BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL FIRST: The Ball State women's volleyball program will be making its first-ever trip to the state of Washington this weekend when it competes in the Cougar Challenge hosted by Washington State.
►MORE MAP FUN: The Ball State women's volleyball program also made its first-ever trip to the state of Tennessee last weekend, when it competed in the Lipscomb Invitational ... Overall, the Cardinals have played at least one match in 33 of the 50 states, and have also played a tournament in Washington, D.C.
►LOOKING AT THE ALL-TIME SERIES: The Cardinals will be battling Utah Valley for the first time in program history ... Ball State won the only previous meeting with Washington State by a score of 2-0 (15-8, 15-13) as part of the 1977 AIAW National Tournament in Provo, Utah ... The Cardinals hold a 10-0 advantage in the all-time series versus Morehead State, but have not played the Eagles since a 3-2 (30-20, 19-30, 30-22, 26-20, 15-11) victory in Worthen Arena Sept. 10, 2002 ... Ball State is 5-0 all-time in neutral site contests versus MSU.
►THE DUNN FACTOR: Freshman Ellie Dunn played a big role for the Cardinals in last weekend's Lipscomb Invitational, ranking second on the squad with 21 kills over the three matches ... Her best performance came in the opener versus Lipscomb when she blasted a career-high 10 kills ... In the finale versus Pepperdine, Dunn added seven more kills to go along with a .429 (7-1-14) attack percentage.
►BALL STATE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL ON ESPN3: Four of Ball State's nine remaining home matches this season are scheduled to appear on ESPN3: IPFW (Sept. 16), Northern Illinois (Oct. 2), Miami (Oct. 23) and Toledo (Oct. 29) ... 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) ... 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 the Cougar Challenge with an 847-543-2 (.609) all-time record ... The Cardinals boast a 108-54 (.667) mark under sixth-year head coach Steve Shondell, including a 56-24 (.700) ledger in MAC play.
►FROM THE NEST: With three more wins at “The Nest” opening weekend, Ball State improved to 235-69 (.773) all-time in Worthen Arena ... The Cardinals went 6-2 at home in MAC action in 2014, improving to 172-40 (.811) versus MAC teams in Worthen Arena.
►ON THE ROAD: Ball State enters the week with a 254-224-1 (.531) all-time record in road matches, while owning a 227-167-1 (.576) mark in neutral site contests ... Under Steve Shondell, the Cardinals are 34-27 (.557) on the road and 25-14 (.641) in neutral matches.
QUICK HITS
● Ball State improved to 6-0 in season openers under Steve Shondell with its 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-19) win over Albany (Aug. 28) ... In fact, Ball State has only lost one set in season openers under Shondell.
● Ball State head coach Steve Shondell is in his fourth season as a voting member of the AVCA Division I Coaches Top-25 Poll.
● Senior Alex Fuelling was named to the Lipscomb Invitational All-Tournament Team after blasting a team-high 30 kills and adding 21 digs in the two matches she played ... Fuelling earned her fourth double-double of the season with match-highs of 15 kills and 13 digs in the win over Florida Atlantic (Sept. 4).
● Sophomore Jessica Lindsey continued her strong play at the net last week, averaging 1.17 blocks per set ... Lindsey, who earned a career-high nine total blocks (one solo and eight assists) versus New Mexico (Sept. 29) currently leads the team and ranks seventh in the MAC with a 1.12 blocks-per-set average.
● Jessica Lindsey's nine total blocks in the win over New Mexico (Sept. 29) are tied as the second most in a match by an individual player in the MAC this season ... In addition, Kelly Hopkins' 21 kills versus the Lobos is the eighth-best individual effort in the league so far in 2015.
● The Cardinals relied heavily on its freshman class versus Pepperdine (Sept. 5), with five freshman appearing on the court at several points throughout the day ... Leading the Cardinals in kills were true freshman Ellie Dunn and redshirt freshman Meg Starling with seven apiece.
● With 127 digs so far this season, senior libero Kati Vasalakis enters the Cougar Challenge with 846 career digs ... She needs 39 more digs to break into the top 20 on Ball State's career charts.
SHONDELL QUOTABLES
● About The Lipscomb Tournament: “I thought we played some really good volleyball in the first two matches. Lipscomb is a legitimate top 25 team and we came out and stunned them in the first set. They responded extremely well, like a veteran time on their home court should. Unfortunately, we did not have the mental toughness we needed to hold on and win the match. Then, on two hours rest, we bounced back and played perhaps our best match of the year against Florida Atlantic.”
● More On The Tournament: “Overall, it was a good tournament. We had a lot of young players step up, including our 6-6 freshman, Meg Starling, who had an incredible match versus Pepperdine.”
● Looking Ahead To The Cougar Challenge: “I like to think we are going to improve a little bit from last weekend. You want to try and get better each and every week. We had a really good, hard week of practice, and I know we are going to be ready for this weekend's challenges. It's going to be three tough matches, but if we are playing at the top of our game, we are capable of beating anyone.”
