Volleyball Hosts Toledo Thursday, Travels to Buffalo Saturday

Thursday, October 4

Muncie, IN

7 p.m.

Ball State University

University of Toledo

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Volleyball Hosts Toledo Thursday, Travels to Buffalo Saturday

October 03, 2018 | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes: Toledo / Buffalo

Thursday, Oct. 4
7 p.m. - hosts Toledo - LIVE STATS | ESPN+ | SL DIGITAL AUDIO
PROMOTIONS:
Dig Pink Night: The first 200 fans in attendance will receive a pink rally towel courtesy of MutualBank. Fans can contribute to Ball State's Dig Pink Campaign through the Side-Out Foundation at: https://giving.side-out.org/campaigns/14583
Camper Reunion Night: Anyone (8th Grade-&-Under) who attended a Ball State Women's Volleyball Camp this year will receive free admission
Residence Hall Night: The best represented Ball State residence hall will earn a prize

Saturday, Oct. 6
6 p.m. - at Buffalo - LIVE STATS | ESPN3

• THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team closes its current three-match homestand Thursday with a 7 p.m. first serve versus Toledo ... The Cardinals return to the road Saturday for a 6 p.m. contest at Buffalo.

• FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live stats will be available for both matches this weekend, courtesy of the home institutions ... Thursday's match versus Toledo will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and carried live on Ball State Sports Link Digital ... Saturday's contest at Buffalo will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

• 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 902-591-2 (.604) all-time record in women's volleyball over 46-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.

• IN THE MAC: Ball State enters Thursday's match versus Toledo with a 372-191 (.661) all-time record in Mid-American Conference play ... The only program with a better all-time league mark is Western Michigan at 379-184 (.673) ... Thursday's opponent Toledo is 11th all-time at 164-379 (.302), while Saturday's foe Buffalo is 12th at 58-256 (.185).

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
• Toledo enters the week with a 7-8 (2-2 MAC) record after splitting a pair of league home matches last weekend ... The Rockets earned a Friday sweep of Central Michigan, only to by swept by Eastern Michigan Saturday ... The UT offense ranks seventh in the MAC with a 12.16 kills-per-set average led by Chloee Kleespies (3.22) and Zoe Birnbrich (3.03) ... Carly Townsend has set a majority of the action for the Rockets, averaging 9.26 assists per set and leading the squad to a .175 attack percentage which is 10th in the MAC ... The Toledo defense is led by Maurissa Leonard in the backcourt at 5.97 digs per set and Birnbrich at the net at 0.91 blocks per set.

• Buffalo enters the week with a 10-6 (2-2 MAC) record after picking up a pair of five-set road victories last weekend ... The Bulls opened the weekend by rallying from down 2-1 to pick up its first-ever win over Ohio Friday ... UB rallied from down 2-1 again Sunday to earn the victory at Kent State ... Buffalo enters the week ranked fourth in the MAC at 12.76 kills per set, led by Andrea Mitrovic's league-leading 4.32 mark ... Scout McLerran (9.60 assists per set) and Tia Gleason (10.24 aps) have split time at setter for the Bulls, with McLerran setting both wins last weekend ... The pair have UB hitting .218 on the year which is fourth in the MAC ... Larra Bickelhaupt leads the Buffalo backcourt at 3.71 digs per set, while Kristina Nieves paces the block at 0.94 blocks per set.

BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS
• THURSDAY PROMOTIONS: Thursday's home match versus Toledo will serve as Ball State's annual Dig Pink Night ... The first 200 fans in attendance will receive a pink rally towel courtesy of MutualBank ... Fans can contribute to Ball State's Dig Pink Campaign through the Side-Out Foundation at: https://giving.side-out.org/campaigns/14583 ... In addition, the match will serve as Camper Reunion Night (with anyone 8th grade-&-under who attended a Ball State Women's Volleyball Camp this year receiving free admission) and Residence Hall Night (with the best represented Ball State residence hall earning a prize).

• SERIES VS. TOLEDO: While Ball State maintains a commanding 64-10 lead in the all-time series versus Toledo, the Rockets have won three of the last four meetings ... The Cardinals snapped a three-match losing streak to Toledo in the last showdown, claiming a 3-1 victory in Worthen Arena on Nov. 2, 2017 ... Ball State strung together a 42-match winning streak versus the Rockets from Nov. 13, 1987 to Oct. 2, 2008 ... Since then, the Cardinals have won 13 of the last 20 matches ... Ball State holds a 31-4 advantage in matches played in Muncie, including a 23-3 edge in Worthen Arena ... A complete series history can be found on page four of this release.

• SERIES VS. BUFFALO: Ball State is 22-1 all-time versus Buffalo, including eight straight wins ... The Bulls' lone victory came by a score of 3-2 at Alumni Arena on Oct. 9, 2010 ... Overall, the Cardinals are 8-1 all-time in matches hosted by Buffalo ... Of Ball State's 22 wins in the series, 14 have been sweeps, six have come in four sets and two have went the distance ... A complete series history can be found on page four of this release.

• After hitting a combined .264 in sweeps of Eastern Michigan (Sept. 28) and Central Michigan (Sept. 29) last weekend, the Ball State women's volleyball team once again finds itself leading the MAC with a .233 team attack percentage ... The Cardinals have hit .250-or-better in seven matches so far this season, owning a 7-0 record in those contests.

• For her part in setting the Ball State offense to a .264 attack percentage last weekend, junior setter Amber Seaman was named the MAC West Division Setter of the Week for the second time this season ... Seaman averaged 12.00 assists per set over the two matches, while recording assist/dig double doubles in each contest ... She also hit an impressive .611 (11-0-18), served up three aces and collected three block assists.

• Amber Seaman enters the week leading the MAC and ranked 77th nationally with a 10.03 assists-per-set average ... He 622 total assists on the year are also tops in the league and 42nd among all NCAA Division I players ... In MAC-only competition, Seaman is even better, averaging a league-best 11.29 assists per set.

• With her 72 assists last weekend, Amber Seaman raised her career total to 3,705 to climb from 10th to seventh on BSU's career charts ... She is 172 assists shy of passing her predecessor Jenna Spadafora's (2012-15)career total of 2,876 assists for sixth ... Just the 11th player in program history to record over 1,000 assists in a single season with 1,111 last year, Seaman's 10.02 career assists-per-set average ranks sixth on the 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 19 aces, including the only two aces in last Saturday's win over Central Michigan ... With her 19 aces, Seaman has raised her career total to 82 and is looking to become just the 19th player in program history to reach 100 career aces.

• Junior middle Sydnee VanBeek and redshirt senior middle Meg Starling both enter Thursday's match versus Toledo ranked in the top 10 in the MAC in attack percentage ... VanBeek leads the squad and is seventh in the MAC at .319, while Starling is second on the team and ninth in the league at .303 ... 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.

• In addition to having the top offense in the league, Ball State boasts the best block in the league with a 2.37 blocks-per-set average ... Meg Starling leads the team, ranks second in the MAC and is 45th nationally with a 1.27 blocks-per-set average ... In addition, Starling's 75 total blocks are the most in the MAC and rank 29th among all NCAA Division I players entering the week.

• Meg Starling is looking to become the first Ball State player to finish the year with a 1.24-or-better blocks-per-set average since Christine Kennedy (2006-07)averaged 1.31 blocks per set in 2006 ... In addition, with her 18 solo blocks, 57 block assists and 75 total blocks through 17 matches this season, Starling is on pace to shatter her previous season-best blocking totals of 20 solo blocks, 59 block assists and 79 total blocks set last season.

• On offense, Meg Starling hit a career-best .727 (8-0-11) in the win over Marshall (Aug. 25) and followed with a .714 (11-1-14) mark versus Grambling (Aug. 31) to become just the second player in program history to record a .700-or-better attacking mark in back-to-back matches with at least 10 attempts in each one ... The first was Julie Zylka (1998-2001) who hit .727 (8-0-11) versus Tennessee Tech (Sept. 3, 1999) and .724 (22-1-29) versus Austin Peay (Sept. 4, 1999).

• Senior outside attacker Ellie Dunn enters Thursday's match versus Toledo ranked fourth in the MAC with a 3.56 kills-per-set average ... She has registered double-digit kills in 14 of the Cardinals' 17 matches, with her 21 kills versus Indiana (Sept. 8) being the 13th-highest individual total in the MAC this season ... She also registered 20 kills in the five-set victory over UMBC (Sept. 14).

• With her team-leading 13 kills against Central Michigan (Sept. 29), Ellie Dunn raised her career total to 897 which ranks 15th on Ball State's career charts … Dunn needs 20 more kills to pass Stacy Jordan's (1982-85) and Michele Winkle's (1982-84) career totals of 916 kills to move into 13th in program history.

• Ellie Dunn also enters the week ranked 12th on Ball State's career charts with double-figure kills in 50 career matches ... In addition, her 2.74 career kills-per-set average is currently 19th in program history.

• After being held without a dig in the opening set versus Central Michigan (Sept. 29), junior libero Kate Avila rallied for 10 over the final two to extend her streak of matches with double-digit digs to 46 and raise her career total to 75 ... In addition, she became just the sixth player in program history to record over 1,400 career digs, raising her career total to 1,407 which ranks sixth in program history.

• Kate Avila was the is 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 at Ball State, doing so in 43 matches ... The only other Ball State player to record 1,000 career digs faster than Avila is Alyssa Rio (2007-10), who accomplished the task in 55 career matches and ranks 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.

• 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 BSU's best all-around effort on defense since holding Tennessee State to a -.084 (14-21-83) rate of success on Sept. 3, 2010.

• The Cardinals defense turned in another gem in the win over North Dakota State (Sept. 7), limiting the Bison to a season-low -.018 (23-25-114) attack percentage ... It's the first time Ball State has limited a pair of opponents to a negative attack percentage in the same season since 2009 ... That year, the Cardinals held Chicago State (Sept. 21) to a -.055 (13-17-73) rate of success and Central Michigan (Nov. 8) to a -.133 (21-36-113) mark.