Volleyball Heads To Colorado State for Three Weekend Matches

COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY TOURNAMENT LINKS
Friday, Sept. 8 at No. 25 Colorado State (2 p.m. ET / Noon MT) | Live Stats | Mountain West Network
Friday, Sept. 8 vs. Idaho State (10 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. MT) | Live Stats
Sunday, Sept. 10 vs. No. 16 Michigan (Noon ET / 10 a.m. MT) | Live Stats

WHAT TO WATCH FOR AT THE CSU TOURNAMENT
• THE WEEKEND AHEAD: This weekend sees the Ball State women's volleyball team travel to Fort Collins, Colo., for the Colorado State University Tournament ... The Cardinals open the event Friday with matches versus No. 25 Colorado State (2 p.m. ET / Noon MT) and Idaho State (10 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. MT) ... After a day off, Ball State squares off against No. 16 Michigan (Noon ET / 10 a.m. MT) Sunday.

• AGAINST THE CSU TOURNAMENT FIELD: The Cardinals are a combined 1-4 versus this year's CSU Tournament field ... Ball State is 1-2 all-time against the host Rams, winning the most recent contest by a score of 3-2 (16-14, 7-15, 11-15, 15-9, 15-11) Sept. 1, 1995 in Fort Collins, Colo. ... Colorado State earned a 3-0 (15-5, 15-7, 15-9) victory in the first-ever meeting Sept. 16, 1989 also played in Fort Collins, while picking up a 3-1 (7-15, 15-13, 15-10, 15-7) win in Muncie Sept. 1, 1990 ... Ball State is 0-2 all-time against Michigan, with both meetings coming at neutral sites in 1981 ... The Wolverines scored a 2-1 (15-7, 6-15, 15-11) win in the first meeting Sept. 19 and followed with a 2-0 (15-10, 15-9) victory Nov. 14 ... Ball State and Idaho State will be meeting for the first time in women's volleyball Friday.

• FOLLOW THE ACTION: Ball State fans not able to make it to Fort Collins for this weekend's tournament can still follow the action with live stats for all three matches ... In addition, Friday's match at No. 25 Colorado State will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network ... Fans can also follow the Cardinals on twitter (@BallStateWVB) for regular updates ... Links for live stats and Friday's Mountain West Network broadcast can be found above.

• VERSUS RANKED TEAMS: Ball State will be looking to pick up its fourth and fifth all-time wins versus ranked opponents this weekend when it faces No. 25 Colorado State (Sept. 8) and No. 16 Michigan (Sept. 10) at the CSU Tournament … The Cardinals are 3-55 all-time versus ranked opponents, with its last win over a top-25 foe coming at Louisville Nov. 29, 2003 by a score of 3-2 (23-30, 29-31, 30-21, 30-26, 18-16).

BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS
• Ball State is 0-4 all-time versus teams ranked 16th at the time of competition, while having yet to face a team ranked 25th … Ball State has faced a ranked Colorado State once, suffering an 0-3 (5-15, 7-15, 9-15) setback to an 18th-ranked Rams squad in Fort Collins Sept. 16, 1989.

• At this weekend's CSU Tournament, Ball State will be facing two ranked opponents in the same weekend for the first time since the USC-Holiday Inn Volleyball Tournament Aug. 29-30, 2003 … The Cardinals opened the 2003 season with an 0-3 (15-30, 15-30, 18-30) loss to a No. 1 USC (Aug. 29) squad which went on to win the national championship with an unblemished 35-0 record ... Ball State's second match of the event was a 1-3 (30-23, 25-30, 21-30, 19-30) setback to No. 8 Northern Iowa (Aug. 30).

• Ball State boasts an 876-577-2 (.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.

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

• In 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.

• Ball State's 17.0 total blocks in last Friday's win over Bradley (Sept. 1) were the most in a match for the Cardinals since a 19.0 blocking effort versus South Dakota on Sept. 19, 2015 ... Junior opposite Emily Holland and redshirt junior middle Avery Devoe were each credited with eight total blocks in the win ... Holland's eight block assists were a career high, while Devoe's eight total blocks (three solo and five assists) tied her career high set at Morehead State on Sept. 9, 2016.

• 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.

• Junior outside attacker Brooklyn Goodsel was named the Most Valuable Player of the Ball State Active Ankle Challenge after leading the Cardinals offense with 43 kills and a 4.30 kill-per-set average for the event ... She smashed a season-high 18 kills in the sweep of Navy, while blasting 17 in the 3-1 victory over Bradley ... She closed the tournament with eight kills versus Fort Wayne ... Goodsel also served up a career-high four aces versus the Braves, while collecting 24 digs for a 2.40 digs-per-set average over the tournament.

• 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 four Ball State players have logged double digit kills in the same match since a 3-2 victory over Appalachian State on Sept. 10, 2016 ... It's also 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-high 18 digs at IUPUI (Sept. 5), sophomore libero Kate Avila raised her career total to 624 ... Avila is 290 digs shy of breaking into the top 20 in program history, with Kaylee Schembra's (2008-11) career total of 914 digs in her sights this season.

• With her 14 kills at IUPUI (Sept. 5), Brooklyn Goodsel raised her career total to 578 ... She needs 225 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 253 assists so far this season, Seaman ranks 12th in program history with 1,225 career assists ... She needs 372 more to catch Tiffany Steven's (1992-95) career total of 1,597 for 11th on Ball State's career charts.

Volleyball Heads To Colorado State for Three Weekend Matches

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Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Avery Devoe

Ellie Dunn

Brooklyn Goodsel

Emily Holland

Amber Seaman

Meg Starling

Sydnee VanBeek