Ball State University Athletics
WVB Travels To IUPUI Wednesday, Lipscomb This Weekend
September 02, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Match 4
Ball State at IUPUI
Wednesday, Sept. 2 (7 p.m.)
Indianapolis, Ind. (The Jungle)
Live Stats | Live Video
Match 5
Ball State at Lipscomb
Friday, Sept. 4 (12:30 p.m. CT)
Nashville, Tenn. (Allen Arena)
Live Stats | Live Video
Match 6
Ball State vs. FAU
Friday, Sept. 4 (5 p.m. CT)
Nashville, Tenn. (Allen Arena)
Live Stats
Match 7
Ball State vs. Pepperdine
Saturday, Sept. 5 (12:30 p.m. CT)
Nashville, Tenn. (Allen Arena)
Live Stats
►THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team puts its undefeated record on the line Wednesday, when it travels down I-69 to battle in-state rival IUPUI for a 7 p.m. first serve at The Jungle ... From there, the Cardinals head further south to Nashville, Tenn., for the Lipscomb Invitational ... The Cardinals open the two-day event with matches versus the host Lady Bisons (12:30 p.m. CT) and Florida Atlantic (5 p.m. CT) Friday, before closing the tournament Saturday against Pepperdine (12:30 p.m. CT).
►AND THEN THERE WAS ONE: After the first weekend of action, Ball State stands as the lone undefeated team in the Mid-American Conference ... Northern Illinois (3-1), Ohio (2-1) and Eastern Michigan (2-1) are next on the list with one loss apiece.
►SETTING UP TO BE A QUITE THE EVENT: If the Cardinals can pull out a victory in Wednesday's match at IUPUI, the four teams entering this weekend's Lipscomb Invitational will boast a combined record of 15-0 ... Lipscomb, who received 18 points in this week's AVCA Division I Coaches Top-25 Poll, went a perfect 3-0 last weekend's Utah Classic ... Both Florida Atlantic and Pepperdine own 4-0 records after winning their respective home tournament last weekend (FAU Invitational and Pepperdine Asics Classic).
►SPEAKING OF THE AVCA COACHES 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.
►BALL STATE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL ON ESPN3: Ball State has four more home match scheduled for ESPN3 this season: 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 Wednesday's match at IUPUI with an 846-540-2 (.610) all-time record ... The Cardinals boast a 107-51 (.677) 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” last 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 254-222-1 (.534) all-time record in road matches, while owning a 226-166-1 (.576) mark in neutral site contests ... Under Steve Shondell, the Cardinals are 34-25 (.576) on the road and 24-13 (.649) in neutral matches.
►VERSUS IUPUI: The Cardinals hold a commanding 14-3 lead in the all-time series versus IUPUI, including five straight victories ... However, one of IUPUI's three wins was later vacated ... In the latest meeting, Ball State scored a 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-23) victory at Worthen Arena Sept. 17, 2013 ... The Cardinals are also 5-2 all-time in matches played in Indianapolis with IUPUI's last winning on its home court Sept. 11, 2007 ... IUPUI's other home win was the vacated match in 2005
►VERSUS THE LIPSCOMB INVITATIONAL FIELD: Ball State will be playing each of its opponents in the Lipscomb Invitational (Lipscomb, Florida Atlantic and Pepperdine) for the first time in women's volleyball.
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.
● At 3-0, Ball State is off to the third-best season-opening winning streak in the Shondell era ... The Cardinals started 2010 with a 7-0 record on the way to winning the MAC regular season title, while posting a 9-0 start in 2011 on the way to an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
● Senior Alex Fuelling was named the Ball State Active Ankle Challenge MVP after averaging 3.64 kills and 3.00 digs per set in the event ... She provided the match-winning kill in all three contests, while starting the year with three consecutive kill/dig double-doubles.
● Sophomore Jessica Lindsey had a career night at the net versus New Mexico (Sept. 29), tallying a career-high nine total blocks (one solo and eight assists) ... Entering the 2015 season, Lindsey had just nine total blocks (one solo and eight assists) in 21 matches played her freshman season ... Lindsey already has 12 (one solo and 11 assists) total blocks this season and leads the team with a 1.09 blocks-per-set average.
● Freshman Emily Holland had a strong debut for the Cardinals last weekend, ranking third on the team in both kills (24) and total blocks (eight) ... In Saturday's win over New Mexico, Holland blasted a career-high 11 kills and added a career-best seven block assists.
SHONDELL QUOTABLES
● On IUPUI Match: “Wednesday is going to be a tough match. Every time we play IUPUI it's a real battle. They are coming off a strong weekend in which they competed hard versus a pair of nationally-ranked teams in Kentucky and Michigan State.”
● The Weekend Ahead: “This weekend will be a challenge every match. We have to play better than we did this past weekend to win any of the matches at Lipscomb. As a team, you're trying to improve every week. The level of competition starting Wednesday and carrying into the weekend will force us to be at the top of our game.”
● Positives From Last Weekend: “The biggest thing we learned about our team last weekend was our mental toughness. We were not at our best in any of the matches, but we found ways to win. That is a sign of a team that has good leadership and is mentally tough.”
