Volleyball Returns Home to Battle NIU & WMU This Weekend

Match 24 - Ball State hosts Northern Illinois
Friday, Oct. 26 - 7 p.m. (Worthen Arena)
Live Stats | SL Digital Audio | ESPN3 Broadcast | Social Media (@BallStateWVB)
PROMOTIONS: Greek Life Night - the sorority or fraternity with the highest percentage of its membership in attendance winning either a television or catered meal on behalf of Ball State Athletics

Match 25 - Ball State hosts Western Michigan
Saturday, Oct. 27 - 7 p.m. (Worthen Arena)
Live Stats | SL Digital Audio | ESPN3 Broadcast | Social Media (@BallStateWVB)
PROMOTIONS: Alumni Night - the Ball State women's volleyball program will honor all alumni in attendance ... If you are an alumna and have not registered but plan on attending the match, please e-mail assistant coach Fritz Rosenberg at: bfrosenberg@bsu.edu.

• THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to Worthen Arena this weekend for matches versus Northern Illinois (Friday) and Western Michigan (Saturday) ... First serve for both matches will be 7 p.m.

• THIS WEEK'S PROMOTIONS: Friday's match versus NIU will serve as Greek Life Night, with the sorority or fraternity with the highest percentage of its membership in attendance winning either a television or catered meal on behalf of Ball State Athletics ... Saturday's match versus Western Michigan will serve as Alumni Night, with the Cardinals honoring all alumni in attendance ... If you are an alumna and have not registered but plan on attending the match, please e-mail assistant coach Fritz Rosenberg at: bfrosenberg@bsu.edu.

• FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans can watch both of this weekend's matches on ESPN3 or listen to the action on SL Digital Radio ... In addition, live stats will be available for both contests.

• FOLLOW THE ACTION PART 2: Another great way to follow the Cardinals this season is on social media ... For in-match updates, pre-match features, post-match stories, videos and photos fans can follow the team on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat @BallStateWVB.

• ALL-TIME: Ball State boasts a 907-592-2 (.605) all-time record in women's volleyball in its 47th season of play ... The Cardinals have won eight MAC Regular Season Championships, six MAC Tournament Championships and made eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

• IN THE MAC: Ball State enters Friday's match versus Northern Illinois with a 377-192 (.663) all-time record in Mid-American Conference play ... NIU is right behind the Cardinals in third based on winning percentage at 226-152 (.636), while Saturday's opponent Western Michigan is the only program with a better all-time league mark than the Cardinals at 381-188 (.670).

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
• Northern Illinois enters Friday's match with an 8-17 (6-4 MAC) record after splitting a pair of road league matches last weekend ... After a 3-2 loss at Kent State (Oct. 19), the Huskies rebounded for a 3-2 win at Ohio (Oct. 20) ... Meg Wolowicz leads NIU and ranks second in the league with a 4.17 kills-per-set average, while the team ranks last in the MAC with an 11.80 average ... Grace Balensiefer has set a majority of the matches for Northern Illinois, averaging 7.58 assists per set, but has also split time in a 6-2 for several matches with Amanda Krahl who averages 2.82 assists per set ... As a team, the Huskies are ninth in the MAC with a .185 attack percentage ... Miranda Karlen anchors the NIU backcourt at 5.04 digs per set, while Chrystal McAlpin leads the block at 0.92 blocks per set ... Overall, Northern Illinois ranks eighth in the MAC in both digs per set (15.39) and blocks per set (1.98).

• Western Michigan enters the weekend with a 13-11 (3-7 MAC) record and will play at Toledo Friday before facing the Cardinals Saturday ... Last week, the Broncos were swept at Ohio (Oct. 19) and lost in four sets at Kent State (Oct. 20) ... WMU ranks fourth in the MAC with a 12.86 kills-per-set average as a team, led by a 4.02 average from Rachel Bontrager ... Mary Murphy as set the Western Michigan offense to a .222 attack percentage on the year, which is third in the league, averaging 10.00 assists per set ... Kathleen Reilly leads the WMU backcourt at 4.51 digs per set, while Janell Williams leads the Broncos' regulars with a 0.85 blocks-per-set average ... As a team, WMU ranks seventh in the MAC at 16.07 digs per set and is sixth with 2.04 blocks per set.

BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS
• SERIES VS. NORTHERN ILLINOIS: The Huskies hold a 36-31 lead in the all-time series after topping the Cardinals 3-1 (25-23, 25-18, 22-25, 25-21) in the first meeting between the two teams this season played Sept. 22 in DeKalb, Illinois ... Ball State maintains a 16-10 advantage in matches played in Muncie, including a 14-7 edge in Worthen Arena ... However, NIU has won the last two matches played in on BSU's home floor, both in five sets ... Last season, the Huskies pulled out a 3-2 (23-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-19, 15-13) victory Oct. 7, 2017 ... A complete series history can be found on page four of this release.

• CARDINALS VS. HUSKIES ROUND 1: Despite three players with double-digit kills, Ball State suffered its first league loss of the season to the Huskies on Sept. 22 ... Senior outside attacker Ellie Dunn led the Cardinals offense with 15 kills, while sophomore outside attacker Kia Holder added 12 and junior middle Sydnee VanBeek scored 11 ... VanBeek also led all players with a season-high seven blocks in the contest, helping Ball State hold a 14.0 to 10.0 edge for the match ... Junior libero Kate Avila led all players with 23 digs ... For the Huskies, who managed to out-hit the Cardinals .194 (56-25-160) to .190 (53-24-153) on the night, Meg Wolowicz smashed a match-high 17 kills and Jori Radtke added 15 to go along with 17 digs ... NIU libero Miranda Karlen scooped up 22 digs.

• SERIES VS. WESTERN MICHIGAN: With its 3-1 (17-25, 25-17, 25-19, 26-24) victory over the Broncos in the first meeting this season, played Sept. 21 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Cardinals managed to even the all-time series at 47-47 ... Ball State holds a 25-15 lead in matches played in Muncie, including a 20-7 record in Worthen Arena ... BSU has won the last two matches on its home court, including a 3-1 (25-20, 17-25, 25-15, 25-17) win in the latest meeting in Muncie on Oct. 6, 2017 ... A complete series history can be found on page four of this release.

• CARDINALS VS. BRONCOS ROUND 1: After losing the first set, Ball State rebounded to win the next three and open the 2018 MAC season with a 3-1 road win in Kalamazoo on Sept. 21 ... Sydnee VanBeek turned in a solid performance in the win, with match-highs of 17 kills and five total blocks ... She also hit .350 for the match ... Freshman opposite Reece Kral was second on the team with nine kills, while Ellie Dunn led all players with 19 digs and collected eight kills and three total blocks ... Overall, Ball State held a 12.0 to 7.0 advantage in team blocks and out-hit the Broncos .175 (56-28-160) to .164 (48-24-146) ... Rachel Bontrager tied VanBeek for match-high honors with 17 kills and also collected team-highs of 16 digs and four total blocks.

• With her fourth dig at Bowling Green (Oct. 20), Kate Avila became just the sixth player in program history to reach 1,500 career digs ... Avila, who has played all but the first four sets of her collegiate career as the team's libero, enters the week with 1,518 career digs to rank sixth in program history and 43rd among all active NCAA Division I players ... She is 62 digs shy of passing Amanda McCormick's (2005-06)career total of 1,579 for fifth on Ball State's career charts ... Her 4.63 career digs-per-set average is fourth on BSU's all-time list, while her 81 matches (including 52 straight) with double-figure digs are fifth.

• Kate Avila was the third-fastest player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs, doing so in 57 matches ... Amanda McCormick (2005-06), who transferred to Ball State after playing two years at Nebraska, is the fastest player to reach 1,000 career digs as a Cardinal, doing so in 43 matches ... The only other BSU player to record 1,000 career digs faster than Avila is Alyssa Rio (2007-10), who accomplished the task in 55 matches and is second in program history with 2,089 career digs ... Stephanie Keller (2001-04), the program's all-time digs leader at 2,273 and Avila's high school coach at Yorktown, reached 1,000 career digs in 70 matches.

• Redshirt middle Meg Starling also reached a career milestone last week, recording her 200th career block in Friday's match at Miami (Oct. 19) ... Starling enters the week with 207 career blocks, including 46 solo blocks and 161 block assists ... Her career total is 42 blocks shy of breaking into the top 20 in program history, while she needs just six more solo blocks to reach the top 20 on BSU's career charts.

• Meg Starling enters the week ranked second in the MAC and 40th nationally with a 1.28 blocks-per-set average this season ... She is looking to become the first Ball State player to finish the year with a 1.24-or-better blocks-per-set average, which would rank in the top 20 in program history, since Christine Kennedy (2006-07) averaged 1.31 blocks per set in 2006 ... Starling's 101 total blocks this season are five shy of matching her total of 105 from her first three seasons combined.

• A four-time MAC West Division Setter of the Week award winner this season, junior Amber Seaman enters Friday's match versus Northern Illinois leading the MAC and ranked 58th nationally with a 10.52 assists-per-set average ... He 873 total assists are also first in the league and rank 37th among all NCAA Division I players ... In league play, Seaman is doing even better, handing out 11.69 assist per set.

• With her 87 assists last week, Amber Seaman raised her career total to 2,956 to pass her predecessor Jenna Spadafora's (2012-15) career total of 2,876 assists for sixth on BSU's career charts ... Just the 11th player in program history to record over 1,000 assists in a single season with 1,111 last year, Seaman's 10.16 career assists-per-set average ranks fifth on BSU's all-time list and she is on pace to become only the fifth Cardinal to hand out over 4,000 career assists.

• Amber Seaman is also getting things done from behind the service line this season, leading Ball State with 34 aces to raise her career total to 97 ... Seaman is looking to become just the 19th player in program history to reach 100 career aces.

• Senior outside attacker Ellie Dunn enters Friday's match versus Northern Illinois ranked fourth in the MAC and 75th nationally with a 3.81 kills-per-set average ... She has registered double-digit kills in 20 of the Cardinals' 23 matches this season, with her 21 kills versus Indiana (Sept. 8) tying as the 20th-highest individual total in the MAC this season ... She also registered 20 kills in the five-set victory over UMBC (Sept. 14) and at Miami (Oct. 19).

• With her team-leading 35 kills last weekend, Ellie Dunn raised her career total to 993 which ranks 11th in program history ... The total also ranks 107th among active NCAA Division I players ... Dunn needs just seven more kills to become just the 11th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills ... She also ranks ninth on Ball State's career charts with double-figure kills in 56 career matches, while her 2.85 career kills-per-set average is 15th in program history and her 2,897 career attack attempts are ninth.

• Junior middle Sydnee VanBeek and Meg Starling both enter Friday's match against Northern Illinois ranked in the top 10 in the MAC in attack percentage ... VanBeek leads the squad and is fourth in the MAC at .326, while Starling is second on the team and seventh in the league at .315 ... The last time Ball State had a pair of players hit above .300 in the same season was 2013 when Mindy Marx (2010-13) led the league at .359 and Hayley Benson (2012-14) was third at .353.

• Ball State continues to lead the MAC with a .244 attack percentage this season ... The Cardinals have hit .250-or-better in 11 matches, owning a 10-1 record in those contests ... More impressively, Ball State has hit above .300 six times this season, which is the most since the 2013 squad accomplished the feat eight times.

• In addition to having the top offense in the MAC, Ball State boasts the best block in the league with a 2.52 blocks-per-set average ... The average also ranks 38th nationally ... Meg Starling leads the team, ranks second in the MAC and is 40th nationally with her 1.28 blocks-per-set average ... In addition, Starling's 101 total blocks are the most in the MAC and rank 31st among all NCAA Division I players entering the week.

• Ball State's 11 aces in the win over Ohio (Oct. 12) were the most the Cardinals have served up in 230 matches, dating back to Sept. 9, 2011 when the BSU aced Western Carolina 12 times.

• Led by nine aces from Amber Seaman, the Cardinals blasted 19 service aces in wins over Ohio (Oct. 12) and Kent State (Oct. 13) ... It's the most aces Ball State has registered in back-to-back matches since the 2007 season when the Cardinals tallied 22 starting with six in a five-set win at Toledo (Sept. 27) and followed with 16 in a home win over Buffalo (Sept. 29).

• Ball State's offense connected for a .469 (44-6-81) attack percentage in the win over Grambling State (Aug. 31) which stands as the third-best single match performance in program history ... The only two matches that were better, a .512 mark versus Southeast Missouri (Sept. 9, 2000) and a .506 effort at Indiana State (Oct. 11, 1988).

• In addition to a solid attacking performance versus Grambling State (Sept. 1), the Ball State defense limited the Tigers attack to a season-low -.061 (18-23-82) rate of success ... It's Ball State's best all-around effort on defense since holding Tennessee State to a -.084 (14-21-83) rate of success on Sept. 3, 2010.

Volleyball Returns Home to Battle NIU & WMU This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Ellie Dunn

Kia Holder

Reece Kral

Amber Seaman

Meg Starling

Sydnee VanBeek