Volleyball Opens MAC Play at EMU and CMU This Weekend

WEEKEND LINKS
Friday, Sept. 22 at Eastern Michigan (3 p.m.) | Live Stats | ESPN3
Saturday, Sept. 23 at Central Michigan (8 p.m.) | Live Stats | Live Video

WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEKEND
• THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team opens Mid-American Conference play Friday when it travels to Eastern Michigan for a 3 p.m. first serve at the Convocation Center ... The Cardinals conclude the opening weekend of league play Saturday with an 8 p.m. first serve at Central Michigan's McGuirk Arena.

• SEASON TO DATE: Ball State enters MAC play with an 8-5 overall record ... While the Cardinals are an impressive 5-0 in home matches this season, the team has struggled in true road matches with an 0-4 record ... Ball State is 3-1 in neutral site contests.

• BALL STATE IN THE MAC: Ball State enters Friday's match at Eastern Michigan with a 358-185 (.659) all-time record in Mid-American Conference play ... The only program with a better all-time league mark is Western Michigan at 370-173 (.681) ... EMU is eighth at 239-304 (.440), while Saturday's opponent Central Michigan is seventh at 271-272 (.499).

• ALL-TIME AGAINST EASTERN MICHIGAN: Ball State is 52-26 all-time versus Eastern Michigan, including a 19-16 mark in matches played in Ypsilanti, Mich. ... Last season, the Cardinals swept the regular season series with a 3-2 (25-20, 14-25, 25-15, 20-25, 15-11) home win Sept. 24 and a 3-1 (21-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-19) road victory Oct. 28.

• ALL-TIME AGAINST CENTRAL MICHIGAN: Ball State holds a 45-31 lead in the all-time series versus Central Michigan, including a 19-14 advantage in matches played in Mount Pleasant, Mich. ... The last three meetings have all went five sets, with Ball State claiming three wins ... Last season, the Cardinals opened MAC play with a 3-2 (28-26, 25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 15-11) home win over the Chippewas Sept. 23, before earning a 3-2 (15-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-21, 15-10) come-from-behind road victory Oct. 29.

• FOLLOW THE ACTION: Ball State fans unable to attend this weekend's matches can still follow the action, as both will be streamed live and free online ... Friday afternoon's tilt at Eastern Michigan will be carried on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app ... Saturday evening's match at Central Michigan will be streamed on the Chippewas CSN Digital network ... In addition, live stats will be available for both matches courtesy of the home institutions ... Fans can also follow the Cardinals on twitter (@BallStateWVB) for regular updates ... Links for the ESPN3 and CSN Digital broadcasts, as well as live stats, can be found above.

• CARDINALS ON ESPN3: Ball State enters Friday's match at Eastern Michigan with a 3-1 record on ESPN3 this season ... The Cardinals first appearance on the platform was a 3-1 home victory versus Bradley (Sept. 1) ... After suffering a 3-2 road loss at IUPUI (Sept. 5), Ball State has rebounded to win its last two ESPN3 matches, sweeping Evansville (Sept. 14) and battling back from down two sets to defeat Duquesne (Sept. 15) in five ... Including Friday's match at EMU, the Cardinals are scheduled to appear on ESPN3 11 more times this season.

BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS
• With wins over Evansville (Sept. 14) and Duquesne (Sept. 15) in its two home matches of the Ball State & Butler Tournament, the Cardinals improved to 253-78 (.764) all-time in Worthen Arena ... The Cardinals are an unblemished 5-0 at home so far this season.

• Ball State boasts an 879-580-2 (.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.

• Friday's MAC opener at Eastern Michigan will pit the league's top two blocking teams against each other ... Ball State enters the match ranked second in the league with a 2.14 blocks-per-set average ... The only team better, EMU at 2.44 ... In addition, 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).

• Redshirt junior middle Meg Starling leads Ball State at the net, ranking third in the MAC with a 1.02 blocks-per-set average ... Starling entered the season with 27 blocks and a 0.58 career blocks-per-set average, having played in 46 of a possible 250 sets in her first two seasons ... So far this year, Starling has played in all 47 sets and racked up 48 total blocks, including 11 solo stuffs.

• Meg Starling dominated at the net in the Cardinals' 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.

• In the Sept. 5 match at IUPUI, 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.

• Junior opposite Emily Holland has been Ball State's top attacker over the past two weeks, which has helped her earn all-tournament nods at both the Colorado State Tournament and the Ball State & Butler Tournament ... Over the last seven matches, Holland has a team-high 68 kills and is connecting at a .368 (68-15-144) clip ... She has double-digit kills in four of the seven matches, including a career-high 16 markers in the come-from-behind win over Duquesne (Sept. 15).

• Freshman outside attacker Kia Holder became the sixth different Ball State player to record double-digit kills in a match this season with her career-high 10 kills versus Duquesne ... The Cardinals' junior outside attacking duo of Brooklyn Goodsel and Ellie Dunn have each blasted double-digit kills in six matches this season, while Emily Holland is right behind at five ... Meg Starling has double-digit kills in four matches this season, the first four of her career, while sophomore middle Sydnee VanBeek has accomplished the task twice.

• 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 was the first time Ball State 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).

• 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).

• With her team-leading 49 digs over the course of the Ball State & Butler Tournament, sophomore libero Kate Avila raised her career total to 728 ... Avila is 186 digs shy of catching Kaylee Schembra's (2008-11) career total of 914 digs to break into the top 20 in program history ... Avila has also collected 20-or-more digs three times this season, raising her career total to 12 matches which is seventh on Ball State's all-time charts.

• With her 10 kills over the course of the Ball State & Butler Tournament, Brooklyn Goodsel raised her career total to 608 ... She needs 195 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 451 assists so far this season, Seaman ranks 12th in program history with 1,423 career assists ... She needs 174 more to catch Tiffany Steven's (1992-95) career total of 1,597 for 11th on Ball State's career charts.

Volleyball Opens MAC Play at EMU and CMU This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Ellie Dunn

Brooklyn Goodsel

Kia Holder

Emily Holland

Amber Seaman

Meg Starling

Sydnee VanBeek