Men’s Volleyball Returns Home to Battle Two Top Ten Teams

Friday, February 16

Muncie, Ind.

7:30 PM

Ball State University

Lewis University

Photo by: Kyle Crawford

Men’s Volleyball Returns Home to Battle Two Top Ten Teams

February 15, 2018 | Men's Volleyball

Match Notes

Match One
Ball State vs. No. 8 Lewis
Friday, Feb. 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Muncie, Ind.
Live Stats
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Match Two
Ball State vs. No. 6 Loyola-Chicago
Saturday, Feb. 17 (7:30 p.m.)
Muncie, Ind.
Live Stats
Live Stream
Radio

MUNCIE, Ind. – The Ball State men's volleyball team returns from its six match road trip this weekend to continue Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) action. The Cardinals will look to earn their first conference win of the season against eighth ranked Lewis and sixth ranked Loyola-Chicago. The Flyers will come into Muncie Friday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. Ball State will then welcome the Ramblers into Worthen on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Scouting Lewis:

Eighth ranked Lewis is 8-3 coming into the weekend, falling to three nationally ranked teams in UC-Irvine, BYU and Long Beach State. The Flyers are coming into the weekend with an eight match win streak, not losing since Jan. 12. Lewis' Ryan Coenen currently leads the team with 108 kills for a .330 hitting percentage. TJ Murray has 36 total block assists on the season while Tyler Mitchem has 32 block assists and two solo blocks.

Ball State leads the all-time series against Lewis by just one game (30-29). In the first meeting last season, Ball State fell in Romeoville, Illinois, 3-1. Matt Szews had 14 kills, 10 digs and four blocks in that contest. Mitch Weiler added eight digs and one service ace. The second matchup came in Muncie, where the Cardinals found themselves in the losing column once again. Blake Reardon had 13 kills, nine digs and one service ace. Matt Szews had 12 kills while Matt Walsh added 10. Parker Swartz had three blocks, two assists and one service ace.

Scouting Loyola-Chicago:

The sixth ranked Ramblers will come into the weekend only losing two matches. Those losses came to UC-Irvine and Long Beach State. Loyola has been victorious in nine matches, two of which were MIVA play. The Ramblers are on a seven match win streak and will take on Fort Wayne before making their trip to Muncie.

Ball State and Loyola battled each other three different times last season. Match one went to the Ramblers in a sweep. Matt Szews had 12 kills and seven digs. Matt Walsh added five kills and one ace. Anthony Lebryk had three blocks while Mitch Weiler had two. The second matchup was also a sweep, but this time by the Cardinals. Matt Szews had 14 kills while Matt Walsh had seven. Walsh also added a match-high seven blocks. The third and final matchup last season came in round one of the MIVA tournament, which was played in Worthen Arena. Ball State won that match, 3-1, and continued on in tournament play. Blake Reardon and Matt Szews had 11 kills apiece. Parker Swartz added eight kills, three blocks and one service ace. Mitch Weiler had nine digs and three blocks.

Cardinal Facts:

Matt Walsh and Mitch Weiler are also the two Cardinals that are ranked in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. Weiler is fifth in total digs with 84. Walsh is fifth with a .400 hitting percentage. That hitting percentage also places him 10th nationally. Walsh is also nationally ranked in blocks per set. He is 25th in the country with 1.02 blocks per set this season.

As a team, the Cardinals are in the MIVA top three in multiple stat categories. Ball State is first in block assists (194) and total team blocks (113). The Cardinals are second in kills with 553, assists with 520, digs with 444, digs per set with 9.25 and points with 725.

Ball State is also ranked nationally in a few team categories. The Cardinals are eighth in team attacks per set with 28.13. Ball State has tallied 9.25 digs per set, which sits them 11th in the country. They sit at 17th in both opponent hitting percentage (.231) and blocks per set (2.35).

In the record books:

Matt Walsh's name can be found in 11 different places in the Ball State record book. That is the most of any current player. Walsh is second in school history (during rally scoring era) in total career blocks (420) and in block assists (380). He has marked 77 career service aces so far, which sits him in third all-time (during rally scoring era). Walsh sits in the sixth spot in career attack percentage (.404) and in blocks per set (1.20). His 40 career solo blocks put him eighth in school history while his 956 career points put him in eighth. Other places you will find his name are points per set, kills, service attempts and service aces per set.

Mitch Weiler's name is also etched in the record books. He leads the team this year in digs and is 15th in school history (during rally scoring era) with 427 career digs. Weiler is also 16th in attack attempts with 1317 and 17th in service attempts with 906. He is had 1.50 career digs per set, which sits him 20th in school history.

Matt Szews is second in Ball State history (during rally scoring era) service aces per set with 0.33 through 147 sets. He is also fourth in kills per set (3.20) and in points per set (3.87). As a sophomore, Szews already has 48 career service aces, which is 15th in the record books. He is also 20th in attack attempts with 1195. Szews is 17th nationally in attacks per set with 7.63.

Adam Wessel, Courtland Scharenborg, and Jake Romano are all ranked in Ball State history in assists. Scharenborg is 10th with 268 with Romano in 11th with 234. Wessel is 19th in that category with 83. Wessel is also ranked in digs per set (4th, 2.01), assists per set (10th, 0.46), and digs (361). Nick LaVanchy is now in the record books too. He is sixth in digs per set with 1.92 and 14th in assists per set with 0.33.

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