Volleyball Travels To Toledo Thursday; Hosts Buffalo Saturday

THIS WEEK'S LINKS
Thursday, Sept. 28 at Toledo (7 p.m.) | Live Stats | ESPN3
Saturday, Sept. 30 hosts Buffalo (7 p.m.) | Live Stats | ESPN3

WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK
• THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team will look to pick up its third consecutive Mid-American Conference road win Thursday when it travels to Toledo for a 7 p.m. first serve versus the Rockets at Savage Arena ... The Cardinals then open the home portion of the MAC schedule Saturday with another 7 p.m. first serve versus Buffalo ... Both matches will be carried live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.

• SEASON TO DATE: Ball State enters the week with a 10-5 overall record, including a 2-0 ledger in MAC play ... The Cardinals picked up their first true road wins of the season last weekend with victories at Eastern Michigan (Sept. 22) and at Central Michigan (Sept. 23) ... Ball State enters the week with an impressive 5-0 mark in home matches this season, while improving to 2-4 in true road matches after last weekend's victories ... The Cardinals are also 3-1 in neutral site contests.

• BALL STATE IN THE MAC: Ball State enters Thursday's match at Toledo with a 360-185 (.661)
all-time record in Mid-American Conference play ... The only program with a better all-time league mark is Western Michigan at 372-173 (.683) ... Toledo is 11th at 164-381 (.301), while Buffalo is 12th at 60-256 (.190).

• ALL-TIME AGAINST TOLEDO: Ball State is 63-9 all-time versus the Rockets, including a 27-4 advantage in matches played in Toledo, Ohio ... However, Toledo managed to sweep the regular season series last season by earning a 3-1 victory in Worthen Arena Sept. 29 and a 3-2 win at Savage Arena Nov. 3 ... It marks only the third time in the 72 match series the Rockets have won back-to-back matches ... Toledo has never won three straight versus the Cardinals ... Ball State strung together a 42-match winning streak over the Rockets from Nov. 13, 1987 - Oct. 2, 2008 ... Since then, the Cardinals have won 12 of the last 18 matches in the series.

• ALL-TIME AGAINST BUFFALO: Ball State is 21-1 all-time versus Buffalo, including an unblemished 12-0 record in matches played in Muncie ... The Cardinals have won the last seven meetings in the series, including an Oct. 1 sweep in Buffalo, N.Y. last season ... The Bulls' lone win in the series was a 3-2 victory on its home court Oct. 9, 2010 ... Of Ball State's 21 wins, 14 have been sweeps, five have come in four sets and two have went the distance.

• FOLLOW THE ACTION: Ball State fans unable to attend this week's matches can still follow the action, as both matches will be carried live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app ... 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 broadcasts and live stats can be found above.

• CARDINALS ON ESPN3: Ball State enters the week with a 4-1 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 three ESPN3 matches, sweeping Evansville (Sept. 14), battling back from down two sets to defeat Duquesne (Sept. 15) in five and opening MAC play with a 3-1 win at Eastern Michigan (Sept. 22) ... Including both matches this week, the Cardinals are scheduled to appear on ESPN3 10 more times during the 2017 regular season.

BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS
• With a 5-0 record at home so far this season, the Ball State women's volleyball program is 253-78 (.764) all-time in Worthen Arena ... The Cardinals are even better when it comes to battling league foes in the building, owning a 182-46 (.796) advantage in MAC matches since Worthen Arena became the program's home beginning in the 1992 season.

• Ball State boasts an 881-580-2 (.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.

• Ball State's 89 team digs at Eastern Michigan (Sept. 22) were a season high, and the most in a four-set match for the Cardinals since a 94-dig effort Nov. 11, 2011 in a 3-1 victory over Eastern Michigan in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Mid-American Conference Tournament.

• Junior outside hitter Brooklyn Goodsel guided Ball State to a perfect 2-0 record to open 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 last week ... With the effort, Goodsel became the first player in program history to average 5.0 kills and 4.0 digs per set for a week in the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-present).

• In fact, Brooklyn Goodsel is just the second player in program history to average 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) ... Obras accomplished the feat eight times ... Twice during a two-match week, five times during a three-match week and once during a four-match week.

• Redshirt junior middle Meg Starling leads Ball State at the net and ranks second in the MAC with a 1.06 blocks-per-set average ... Starling entered the season with 27 blocks and an 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 54 of 57 sets and racked up 57 total blocks, including 13 solo stuffs.

• Meg Starling dominated at the net in the Cardinals' win over Idaho State (Sept. 8), finishing 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 three weeks, which helped her earn all-tournament nods at both the Colorado State Tournament and the Ball State & Butler Tournament ... Over the last nine matches, Holland has a team-high 87 kills and is connecting at a .320 (87-24-197) clip ... She has double digit kills in five of the nine 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 (Sept. 15) ... The Cardinals' junior outside attacking duo of Brooklyn Goodsel and Ellie Dunn have each blasted double digit kills in eight matches this season, while Emily Holland is right behind at six ... 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.

• With her 29 digs to open MAC play last weekend, sophomore libero Kate Avila raised her career total to 757 ... Avila is 157 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 36 kills last weekend, Brooklyn Goodsel raised her career total to 644 ... She needs 159 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 544 assists so far this season, Seaman ranks 12th in program history with 1,516 career assists ... She needs 81 more to catch Tiffany Steven's (1992-95) career total of 1,597 for 11th on Ball State's career charts.

Volleyball Travels To Toledo Thursday; Hosts Buffalo Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Ellie Dunn

Brooklyn Goodsel

Kia Holder

Emily Holland

Amber Seaman

Meg Starling

Sydnee VanBeek