Volleyball Set For Three Matches Over Next Three Days

BALL STATE & BUTLER TOURNAMENT LINKS
Thursday, Sept. 14 hosts Evansville (7 p.m.) | Live Stats | ESPN3
Friday, Sept. 15 hosts Duquesne (7 p.m.) | Live Stats | ESPN3
Saturday, Sept. 16 at Butler (7 p.m.) | Live Stats

WHAT TO WATCH FOR AT THE BALL STATE & BUTLER TOURNAMENT
• THE WEEK AHEAD: The final week of pre-conference play will be a busy one for the Ball State women's volleyball team which opens the three-day Ball State & Butler Tournament Thursday with a 7p.m. home match versus Evansville ... The Cardinals also host Duquesne Friday (7 p.m.) before traveling to Butler for its final match of the event Saturday (7 p.m.).

• AGAINST THE TOURNAMENT FIELD: The Cardinals enter the Ball State & Butler Tournament with a 19-5 record against the field, with 22 of the 24 matches being played against Butler ... Ball State is 2-0 all-time versus Evansville, including a hard-fought 3-2 (26-24, 25-15, 18-25, 24-26, 15-10) victory in the latest meeting at the Valpo Marriott Volley Brawl Sept. 2, 2011 ... Thursday's match will be the first between the two programs played in Muncie, with the only other meeting coming at Evansville Sept. 22, 1990 in the form of a 3-0 (15-6, 15-2, 15-8) Ball State victory ... The Cardinals hold a 17-5 advantage in the all-time series versus Butler, despite the Bulldogs earning a 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-21) victory in Worthen Arena last season (Sept. 7) ... Prior to last season's meeting, the teams had not played since the 2006 season when Ball State earned a 3-0 (30-16, 30-20, 30-18) victory at Hinkle Fieldhouse Sept. 26 ... The Cardinals are 6-3 all-time in matches played in Indianapolis ... Ball State and Duquesne will be squaring off for the first time in women's volleyball.

• FOLLOW THE ACTION: Ball State fans not able to make it to Muncie for Thursday or Friday's matches can still watch the action live, as both contest will be carried on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app ... In addition, live stats will be available for all three of this week's matches ... Fans can also follow the Cardinals on twitter (@BallStateWVB) for regular updates ... Links for the ESPN3 broadcasts and live stats can be found above.

• VERSUS IN-STATE FOES: Ball State enters the Ball State & Butler Tournament with a 2-2 record versus in-state opponents this season ... The Cardinals scored wins over Indiana State (3-0) and Fort Wayne (3-0), while falling at Indiana (0-3) and at IUPUI (2-3) ... Evansville and Butler are the final two in-state opponents the Cardinals are scheduled to meet in the 2017 regular season.

BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS

• By winning all three matches in the Ball State Active Ankle Challenge (Sept. 1-2), the Cardinals improved to 251-78 (.763) all-time in Worthen Arena.

• Ball State boasts an 877-579-2 (.602) 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.

• Junior opposite Emily Holland was named to the CSU Tournament All-Tournament Team after leading the Ball State offense with 31 kills and a 2.58 kills-per-set average in the event … She tied her season high with 11 kills versus No. 25 Colorado State, while adding a team-best 10 kills in the win over Idaho State and versus No. 16 Michigan ... She also turned in her best attacking effort of the season against the Wolverines, hitting .500 (10-1-18) for the match ... Overall, Holland finished the tournament with a .406 (31-5-64) attack percentage, while adding 1.00 blocks per set.

• Emily Holland has been one of the Cardinals' key contributors this season, leading the team in kills four times, blocks three times, and total points three times this season ... She has smashed double-figure kills in each of the last three matches, raising her career total to 12 ... In addition, Holland enters Thursday's match ranked sixth in the MAC with a .337 (80-22-172) attack percentage, which is .125 points better than her career mark of .212 (352-164-887).

• In last Tuesday's match at IUPUI (Sept. 5), redshirt junior middle Meg Starling blasted a career-high 15 kills and hit a career-best .700 (15-1-20) ... Her .700 attack percentage ties as the 12th-best single match performance in program history for a player with at least 15 attempts ... In addition, the effort ties as the second-best individual performance under such stipulations in the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-present), with only Alex Fuelling's mark of .733 (11-0-15) versus The Citadel on Aug. 31, 2013 being better.

• Meg Starling followed her stellar attacking performance with a strong defensive effort in the win over Idaho State (Sept. 8), finished the match with a career-high 10 total blocks (two solo and eight assists) ... She became the first Ball State player to reach double digit blocks in 119 matches ... Haley Benson was the last Ball State player to accomplish the task, with 14 total blocks (five solo and nine assists) in a 3-1 victory over SMU Sept. 21, 2013.

• Speaking of blocking, Ball State enters the week ranked second in the MAC with a 2.24 blocks-per-set average ... Meg Starling leads the Cardinals defense and is second in the conference with her 1.11 blocks-per-set average ... In fact, Starling's 10 blocks versus Idaho State tie as the most in a match for a MAC player this season ... As a team, Ball State's 17.0 blocks versus Bradley (Sept. 1) are the second-most in the league this season, trailing only Eastern Michigan's 18.0 blocks at Stony Brook (Aug. 26).

• 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.

• Ball State's defense came to play at the Active Ankle Challenge, limiting its opponents to a combined .103 (116-75-397) attack percentage ... In fact, the Cardinals held all three opponents to season-low attack percentages; Navy at .155 (30-14-103), Bradley at .106 (53-34-179) and Fort Wayne at .052 (33-27-115).

• Four Cardinals finished the win over Indiana State (Aug. 26) with double digit kills; Brooklyn Goodsel (12), Ellie Dunn (10), Meg Starling (10) and Sydnee VanBeek (10) ... It's the first time Ball State has had four players log double digit kills in a three set match since Nov. 18, 2008 versus Eastern Michigan ... The players involved in that match were Alisha Green (12), Julie Breivogel (11), Elaina Kakatolis (10) and Jennifer Boyd (10).

• With her team-leading 55 digs at the CSU Tournament, sophomore libero Kate Avila raised her career total to 679 ... Avila is 235 digs shy of catching Kaylee Schembra's (2008-11) career total of 914 digs to break into the top 20 in program history ... Avila also collected 20-or-more digs twice last weekend, raising her career total to 12 matches which is seventh on Ball State's all-time charts.

• With her 20 kills at the CSU Tournament, Brooklyn Goodsel raised her career total to 598 ... She needs 205 kills to catch Carin Zielinski's (1992-94) career total of 803 to break into the top 20 in program history.

• Sophomore setter Amber Seaman continues her climb up the Ball State record books, becoming just the 14th player in program history to eclipse 1,000 career assists versus Indiana State (Aug. 26) ... With 375 assists so far this season, Seaman ranks 12th in program history with 1,347 career assists ... She needs 250 more to catch Tiffany Steven's (1992-95) career total of 1,597 for 11th on Ball State's career charts.

Volleyball Set For Three Matches Over Next Three Days

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Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Ellie Dunn

Brooklyn Goodsel

Emily Holland

Amber Seaman

Meg Starling

Sydnee VanBeek