Volleyball Opens MAC Tournament Friday in Oxford

LINKS: MAC Tournament Central | ESPN3 (Friday) | ESPN3 (Saturday) | ESPN3 (Sunday)

WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK
• TOURNAMENT TIME: After a successful regular season which saw the Ball State women's volleyball program win its eighth Mid-American Conference West Division championship, the team turns its attention to the postseason when it opens play in the 2017 MAC Tournament as the third seed in Friday's 7 p.m. quarterfinal match ... Ball State faces the winner of sixth-seeded Western Michigan vs. seventh-seeded Central Michigan from Thursday at 7 p.m. first round matchup ... All tournament matches will be played at Miami University's Millett Hall in Oxford, Ohio.

• WIN AND ADVANCE: The winner of Friday's quarterfinal match advances to Saturday's 7 p.m. semifinal match against second-seeded Bowling Green ... The MAC Tournament championship match will be played Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

• ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT: The 2017 MAC Tournament features the league's top eight teams battling it out at Millett Hall in Oxford, Ohio, for an automatic berth into the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship ... The top two seeds in the event, No. 1 Miami (13-3 MAC) and No. 2 Bowling Green (13-3 MAC) each received a double bye straight to Saturday's semifinals ... No. 3 Ball State (11-5 MAC) and No. 4 Ohio (10-6 MAC) each earned a single bye to Friday's quarterfinals ... No. 5 Buffalo (8-8 MAC) and No. 8 Eastern Michigan (7-9 MAC), as well as No. 6 Western Michigan (8-8 MAC) and No. 7 Central Michigan (7-9 MAC) will battle it out first round action Thursday.

• FOLLOW THE ACTION: Ball State fans unable to make it to Oxford, Ohio for the 2017 MAC Tournament can still watch the action live, as all seven tournament matches will be carried live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN App ... Live stats will also be available courtesy of Miami ... Fans can also follow the Cardinals on twitter (@BallStateWVB) for regular updates ... Links for the ESPN3 broadcast and live stats can be found on the MAC Tournament Central Page: http://bit.ly/2yJB3iz

• BALL STATE IN THE TOURNAMENT: Ball State women's volleyball will be making its 27th consecutive appearance in the MAC Tournament this season, and its 29th overall trip to the league's premier event ... Ball State is 30-22 (.577) all-time in tournament play, including a 5-2 record in first round matches, a 10-8 mark in quarterfinal matches, 9-9 ledger in semifinal matches and 6-3 record in championship matches ... Ball State's six MAC Tournament titles are second among league schools, trailing only Ohio's nine ... The Cardinals are also second in the league with six MAC Tournament Most Valuable Players and rank third with 25 all-time all-tournament selections.

• ALL-TIME VERSUS TOURNAMENT FIELD: Ball State holds a 286-176 record versus the 2017 MAC Tournament field, including a 7-3 record in matches this season ... In MAC Tournament action, the Cardinals are 21-14 versus this season's field, including a 5-2 mark in championship matches.

ALL-TIME VERSUS THE 2017 MAC TOURNAMENT FIELD

Team	Overall	Tournament	Championship	Streak
No. 1 Miami	43-35	5-3	2-0	L2
No. 2 Bowling Green	41-17-1	6-1	2-0	W4
No. 4 Ohio	34-19	0-5	0-1	L4
No. 5 Buffalo	22-1	2-0	0-0	W8
No. 6 Western Michigan	46-46	2-4	1-1	W2
No. 7 Central Michigan	46-32	0-1	0-0	L1
No. 8 Eastern Michigan	54-26	6-0	0-0	W4
Totals	286-176	21-14	5-2

• ALL-TIME AGAINST NO. 6 WESTERN MICHIGAN: With last Saturday's win in Kalamazoo, the Cardinals evened the all-time series with the Broncos at 46-46 ... Overall, the Cardinals have won the last four regular season meetings between the two teams ... However, WMU has held the advantage in the MAC Tournament of late, ending the Cardinals season three of the last four years ... In fact, Ball State won both regular season meetings in 2013, 2014 and 2016, only to lose to Western Michigan in tournament play ... Overall, WMU holds a 4-2 lead in MAC Tournament matches, with both teams winning a championship versus the other ... The Cardinals, however, hold the upper hand in neutral site matches at 8-4.

• ROUND 1 VS. WMU: After splitting the opening two sets, the Cardinals defense came to life in the Oct. 6 meeting and limited a previously undefeated MAC team in the Broncos to a -.032 (15-17-62) attack percentage over the final two frames to secure a 3-1 (25-20, 17-25, 25-15, 25-17) victory ... Overall, WMU's .079 (38-28-127) attack percentage on the night was a season low ... Junior outside Ellie Dunn led Ball State with 14 kills and five total blocks, while sophomore libero Kate Avila chipped in a team-high 15 digs.

• ROUND 2 VS. WMU: Trailing 5-2 in the fifth, Ball State rallied off four straight points and never looked back in a 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 16-25, 25-21, 15-10) victory at Western Michigan last Saturday night to conclude the 2017 regular season ... In another crucial MAC West Division showdown, the team's depth was once again highlighted by the play of freshman setter Ali Finch, who in just her second career match, logged her second career double-double with career highs of 47 assists and 12 digs ... Ellie Dunn continued to have the hot hand for the Cardinals offense, leading the team for the fifth straight match with 14 kills ... She also secured a team-high five total blocks (3 solo and two assists).

• ALL-TIME AGAINST NO. 7 CENTRAL MICHIGAN: The Cardinals hold a 46-32 lead in the all-time series versus the Chippewas after the teams spilt the 2017 regular season series, with both squads winning on the road ... Despite the Oct. 27 setback to CMU, Ball State has won eight of the last 10 meetings ... Of the last five matches, four have went five sets, with the only exception being the first match this season, a 3-0 Ball State sweep on Sept. 23 ... The Cardinals and Chippewas have only met once in MAC Tournament play, with Ball State suffering a 1-3 (15-11, 11-15, 13-15, 5-15) setback in just its second league tournament contest Nov. 12, 1982 ... Ball State does hold the edge in neutral site meetings at 5-3.

• ROUND 1 VS. CMU: In the first meeting this season, junior outside Brooklyn Goodsel scored a match-high 16 kills, while Ellie Dunn registered 12 to help the Cardinals hit .302 (47-12-116) in 3-0 (25-18, 33-31, 26-240 sweep in Mount Pleasant Sept. 23 ... Goodsel added 15 digs, while Kate Avila led all players with 16 to help Ball State hold a 58-54 edge in team digs ... The Cardinals also scored nine blocks to limit the Chippewas to a .190 (49-23-137) attack percentage.

• ROUND 2 VS. CMU: While Ball State received several strong individual performances, Central Michigan rallied from two sets down for a 3-2 (15-25, 16-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-10) victory Oct. 27 in Worthen Arena ... Defensively, it was another strong performance from Kate Avila which stole the show as she finished the night tying her career high with 36 digs and recording a perfect reception percentage in 28 attempts ... Brooklyn Goodsel led three Ball State attackers in double figures with 16 kills, while the team as a whole out-hit the Chippewas .253 (60-19-162) to .195 (59-25-174).

• ALL-TIME AGAINST NO. 2 BOWLING GREEN: Ball State extended its winning streak over Bowling Green to four matches, and its series lead to 41-17-1, with a 3-1 win in the lone regular season meeting this season ... The Cardinals also hold a 6-1 lead in MAC Tournament play, including winning both the 1992 and 1993 championships versus the Falcons ... Finally, Ball State maintains a 5-3 edge in neutral site matches in the all-time series.

• ROUND 1 VS. BGSU: While it was not the start Ball State envisioned, the Cardinals stayed strong and rallied for a 3-1 (12-25, 26-24, 25-15, 25-20) victory over league-leader Bowling Green Oct. 20 in Worthen Arena ... After dropping the opening set 25-12, Ball State was up 18-12 in the second only to see Bowling Green go on a 9-1 run to pull ahead 21-19 ... BGSU went on to reach set point at 24-23, but Ellie Dunn answered with her biggest of 12 kills on the night to give the Cardinals life ... Brooklyn Goodsel followed with a solo block, her only block of the contest, while a BGSU attack error ended the frame and gave Ball State the momentum in the match ... The Cardinals took control from there, winning the third set 25-15 and the fourth 25-20.

BALL STATE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS
• Ball State clinched the 2017 MAC West Division title with its 3-1 win at three-time defending division champion Northern Illinois (Nov. 10) ... With the victory, the Cardinals also snapped a four-match losing streak to the Huskies.

• Ball State enters the MAC Tournament tied with top-seeded Miami for the longest active winning streak in the league at five matches ... During the run, the Cardinals are out-hitting opponents .201 to .167 and hold a 17.29 to 16.33 edge in digs per set ... Ball State has also served up 36 aces, compared to 26 for opponents.

• Ball State enters the MAC Tournament with a 10-5 record on ESPN3 this season ... The Cardinals own ESPN3 wins over Bradley (Sept. 1), Evansville (Sept. 14), Duquesne (Sept. 15), at Eastern Michigan (Sept. 22), Buffalo (Sept. 30), Western Michigan (Oct. 7), at Kent State (Oct. 13), Bowling Green (Oct. 20), Eastern Michigan (Oct. 28) and at Western Michigan (Nov. 11).

• Ball State boasts an 890-585-2 (.603) all-time record in women's volleyball over 45-plus seasons of play ... The Cardinals have won eight MAC Regular Season Championships, six MAC Tournament Championships and made eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

• Three Cardinals were honored by the Mid-American Conference Wednesday, with Brooklyn Goodsel earning First Team All-MAC honors, and Ellie Dunn and sophomore setter Amber Seaman being named to the Honorable Mention All-MAC Team ... With the three All-MAC awards, Ball State continues to rank second in MAC history with 95 total All-MAC selections and 46 total First Team All-MAC honorees.

• With her career high tying 21 kills versus Northern Illinois (Oct. 7), Brooklyn Goodsel became just the 17th player in program history to record 20-or-more kills in at least four career matches ... Goodsel also smashed 21 kills versus Toledo (Sept. 29, 2016) and has blasted 20 kills in two matches; versus Central Michigan (Sept. 23, 2016) and at Eastern Michigan (Sept. 22, 2017).

• Brooklyn Goodsel opened MAC play by leading the offense with a 5.14 kills-per-set average and leading the defense with a 4.57 digs-per-set average in wins at Eastern Michigan (Sept. 22) and Central Michigan (Sept. 23) ... With the effort, Goodsel became the first player in program history to average over 5.0 kills and 4.0 digs per set for a week in the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-present) ... In fact, Goodsel is just the second player in program history to average over 5.0 kills and 4.0 digs per set in a week in the rally scoring era (2001-present) ... The only other player to accomplish the task was three-time All-MAC First Team selection Sarah Obras (2002-05) who accomplished the feat eight times.

• With 21 kills last weekend, Brooklyn Goodsel raised her career total to 795 ... She needs eight kills to catch Carin Zielinski's (1992-94) career total of 803 to break into the top 20 in program history.

• Honorable Mention All-MAC honoree Ellie Dunn enters the MAC Tournament with the hot hand for the Cardinals, leading the team in kills in each of the last five matches ... During the run, Dunn has smashed 73 kills for the Cardinals which are 24 more than the next closest player, junior middle Emily Holland at 49.

• Ellie Dunn has picked up her play since the MAC season began, averaging a team-best 3.21 kill per set in league play after posting a 2.60 average in non-conference action ... She has smashed double-digit kills in 12 of Ball State's 16 MAC matches, including a season-high 19 in the league-opening win at Eastern Michigan (Sept. 22) ... She has also led the team in kills in seven league contests.

• Honorable Mention All-MAC selection Amber Seaman continued her climb up the Ball State record books, becoming just the 11th player in program history to eclipse 2,000 career assists at Akron (Nov. 4) ... With 1064 assists so far this season, Seaman ranks 11th in program history with 2,036 career assists ... She needs 314 more to catch Susan Franssen's (1987-90) career total of 2,350 for 10th on Ball State's career charts.

• In addition to leading the MAC with a 10.86 assists-per-set average on the year, Amber Seaman has also been the Cardinals' toughest server this season ... She has blasted 36 aces on the year to rank second in the MAC with a 0.46 aces-per-set average ... She served up a career high four aces in two matches, versus Northern Illinois (Oct. 7) and Toledo (Nov. 2), while depositing at least one ace in 18 matches this season.

• One of the biggest strengths of the 2017 Ball State women's volleyball team has been its depth ... That depth played a key factor once again in the final weekend of the regular season, as Ali Finch made her first two career appearances as Ball State's setter ... After having not played in a single set in Ball State's first 27 matches, Finch took the reins and ran with them, notching a pair of assist/dig double-doubles in arguably the two toughest road environments in the league.

• In her collegiate debut at Northern Illinois (Nov. 10), Ali Finch led the Ball State offense to a .222 attack percentage by dishing out 40 assists ... She also collected 10 digs and a career-high four block assists ... She followed with career highs of 47 assists and 12 digs in the win at Western Michigan (Nov. 11), while guiding the Ball State offense to a .154 rate of success ... She finished her first collegiate weekend averaging 9.67 assists and 2.44 digs per set, while becoming the first setter in program history to record 40-or-more assists in the first two matches of her collegiate career during the rally scoring era (2001-present).

• After averaging 5.44 digs per set in wins at Northern Illinois (Nov. 10) and at Western Michigan (Nov. 11), Kate Avila was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Defensive Player of the Week ... It's the second time this season and the third time in her career Avila has earned the honor ... Avila led all players with 25 digs in the four-set win at NIU, while adding a team-best 24 digs in the Cardinals' five-set victory at WMU.

• With her 49 digs last weekend, Kate Avila raised her career total to 1,088 which moved her from 16th to 13th in program history ... She is 21 digs shy of catching Katie Butts' (1999-2002) career total of 1,109 to move into 12th and needs just 38 digs to break into the Top 10 on Ball State's career chart ... In addition, Avila has tallied 20-or-more digs in 10 of the last 11 matches, raising her career total to 23 ... The 23 career matches with 20-or-more digs ranks sixth in program history and is one shy of catching Sarah Obras' (2002-05) career total of 24 for fifth.

• With her fourth dig in the opening set versus Toledo (Nov. 2), Kate Avila became the third-fastest player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs, doing so in 57 matches ... Amanda McCormick (2005-06) is the fastest player to reach 1,000 career digs at Ball State, doing so in 43 matches ... McCormick, who transferred to Ball State after playing two years at Nebraska, is fifth in program history with 1,579 digs ... The only other Ball State player to record 1,000 career digs faster than Avila is Alyssa Rio (2007-10), who accomplished the task in 55 career matches and ranks second in program history with 2,089 career digs.

• Over the last five weeks, Kate Avila is averaging an impressive 6.34 digs per set, having collected 260 digs over 41 sets ... With her performance over the last 10 matches, Avila has raised her digs-per-set average in MAC play from 4.55 to 5.71 to climb from eighth to fifth among league defenders.

• Senior outside Jessica Lindsey celebrated her senior weekend by putting together the best two-match performance of her collegiate career, leading Ball State with 26 kills and a .344 attack percentage versus Central Michigan (Oct. 27) and Eastern Michigan (Oct. 28) ... In the loss to CMU, Lindsey tied her career high entering the weekend with 12 kills, while connecting for a .367 (12-1-30) attack percentage ... In the win over EMU, Lindsey smashed a new career high of 14 kills and hit .324 (14-3-34) to help ensure her senior night ended with a victory.

• Prior to her 26-kill weekend versus CMU (Oct. 27) and EMU (Oct. 28), Jessica Lindsey had not scored double digit kills in back-to-back matches in her collegiate career ... Her previous best kill total in consecutive matches was 18 when she scored six kills at Ohio (Oct. 16, 2015) and 12 kills at Kent State (Oct. 17, 2015).

• Despite suffering a 3-1 setback to Miami (Oct. 21), the Cardinals turned in one of the best defensive performances in program history by collecting 103 digs ... The 103 digs are a program record for digs in a four-set match in the rally scoring era (2001-present) ... The previous record was 100 digs in a win over Northern Illinois Nov. 15, 2002.

• In all, four Cardinals tallied double digit digs in the record-setting performance versus Miami (Oct. 21), led by 33 from Kate Avila ... Brooklyn Goodsel followed with a career-high 28 digs, giving Ball State two players with 20-or-more digs in the same match for the first time since Oct. 14, 2016 versus Kent State ... Also scoring double figure digs were junior defensive specialist Lauren Schreiner with 18 and Amber Seaman with 11.

• Freshman outside Kia Holder picked a great night to have a breakout performance, as she smashed a career-high 17 kills in the win over MAC-leading Bowling Green (Oct. 20) ... While she finished the night hitting .200 (17-9-40), Holder mimicked the Ball State offense by hitting .000 (7-7-25) over the first two sets, before improving to .375 (5-2-8) in the third and .714 (5-0-7) in the fourth set ... She also made an impact on defense, collecting five digs.

• The Ball State offense was firing on all cylinders in the Sept. 30 win over Buffalo, connecting for a season-best .396 (45-7-96) attack percentage ... It was the Cardinals' best hitting mark in a match since a .419 (55-11-105) effort in a home sweep of The Citadel Aug. 31, 2013 ... In fact, it was the team's fourth-best attack percentage in a match in the rally scoring era (2001-present), with the record being a .425 (51-6-106) effort in a sweep of Northern Illinois Oct. 28, 2005.

• Ball State opened the Active Ankle Challenge with a dominating 25-7 opening set victory over Navy (Sept. 1) ... The 25-7 set victory ties as the second-largest in the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-present) in program history ... The only larger set victory was a 25-5 opening set win versus Tennessee State on Sept. 3, 2010 in another match Ball State swept at home.

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Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Ellie Dunn

Ali Finch

Brooklyn Goodsel

Kia Holder

Emily Holland

Jessica Lindsey

Lauren Schreiner

Amber Seaman

Ball State University Athletics