Volleyball Travels to Dayton to Open 2018 Season

THIS WEEK'S LINKS
Friday, Aug. 24 vs. South Alabama (3 p.m.) - Live Stats

Saturday, Aug. 25 at Dayton (1 p.m. ) - Live Stats | ESPN+
vs. Marshall (5 p.m.) - Live Stats

WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK
• THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball program opens its 47th season of competition Friday when it battles South Alabama (3 p.m.) in the opening match of the Dayton Invitational ... The Cardinals will also play the host Flyers (1 p.m.) and Marshall (5 p.m.) on Saturday to close opening weekend.

• FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live stats will be available for all three of this weekend's matches at the Dayton Invitational ... In addition, Saturday's match versus the host Flyers will be streamed live on ESPN ($4.99 per month) ... ESPN is ESPN's new direct-to-consumer video platform, available at a cost of $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year ... It is accessible via the ESPN App on both iOS and Android devices, desktop and TV-connected devices such as Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Android TV and Chromecast ... ESPN is available for a seven-day free trial and can be used on up to five streaming devices simultaneously.

• ALL-TIME: Ball State boasts an 890-586-2 (.603) all-time record in women's volleyball over 46 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 SEASON OPENERS: Ball State enters Friday's match versus South Alabama with a 23-23 all-time record in season-opening matches ... While the Cardinals have dropped two straight season openers, most recently to Indiana in 2017, Ball State is 16-7 in season-opening tournaments over the past eight seasons.

• AGAINST THE DAYTON INVITATIONAL FIELD: The Cardinals are 18-12 all-time versus teams in the Dayton Invitational ... Ball State suffered a 3-0 loss to South Alabama in the only previous meeting between the two teams on Sept. 16, 2014 at the UniWyo Classic hosted by Wyoming ... The all-time series with Dayton is currently tied at 7-7 after the Flyers picked up a 3-0 victory Aug. 29, 2009 at the Mortar Board Premier Tournament hosted by Purdue ... The Cardinals hold an 11-4 advantage in the all-time series versus Marshall who was a member of the Mid-American Conference from 1997-2004 ... The last time the two teams met was Nov. 20, 2004 in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament hosted by Bowling Green ... Ball State won the first two sets of the match, only to see The Herd thunder back to win the final three ... A complete series history for each opponent can be found on page four of this release.

BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS
• Starting with Saturday's match versus Dayton, the Ball State women's volleyball program is currently scheduled to have 17 of its 29 matches carried live by either ESPN or ESPN3 ... Of those 17 matches, 11 will be on ESPN and six will be on ESPN3 ... In addition, 10 of the matches will be played at home.

• Last season, the Cardinals turned in a 10-6 record in matches broadcast on ESPN3, including a 7-2 mark in matches broadcast from Worthen Arena.

• The 2018 Ball State roster features seven seniors and 13 returning letterwinners, including five starters and the libero, from last season's squad which won the MAC West Division and finished the year with a 19-11 (11-5 MAC) record ... The Cardinals have also added three freshman to the mix this season.

• The defending MAC West Division champions, Ball State received 10 of the 12 first-place votes and 70 total points to repeat as the divisional champions in the league's annual preseason poll ... Western Michigan was second with the remaining two first-place votes and 59 points, followed by Central Michigan (43), Eastern Michigan (30), Northern Illinois (29) and Toledo (21).

• Senior outside hitter Ellie Dunn and junior setter Amber Seaman were named to the seven-member Preseason All-MAC West Division Team ... The last time Ball State had two players named to the Preseason All-MAC West Division Team was in 2015, when then senior middle Kelly Hopkins and then-senior setter Jenna Spadafora were named to the squad.

• Ellie Dunn earned Preseason All-MAC West Division accolades for the first time in her career after leading the Ball State offense with 325 kills and a 2.95 kills-per-set average last season ... In MAC play, Dunn ranked ninth in the conference with a 3.21 kills-per-set average.

• Ellie Dunn enters the 2018 season as Ball State's active career kills leader with 673 career tallies ... She has smashed double-digit kills in 67 career matches, including 19 last season ... A 2017 All-MAC Honorable Mention honoree, Dunn blasted a career-high 22 kills versus Kent State (Oct. 14, 2016) and is the only active Cardinal to register 20-or-more kills in a match.

• Amber Seaman earned Preseason All-MAC West Division honors for the first time in her career after ranking second in the league with a 10.79 assists-per-set average last season ... She helped guide the Ball State offense to a .212 team attack percentage on the year, which also ranked second in the league.

• Amber Seaman enters the 2018 season ranked 11th in program history with 2,083 career assists ... A 2017 All-MAC Honorable Mention honoree, Seaman dished out 1,111 assists last season to become just the 11th Ball State women's volleyball player to record over 1,000 assists in a season ... In addition, her 10.01 career assists-per-set average ranks sixth in program history and she is currently on pace to become only the fifth Cardinal to hand out over 4,000 career assists.

• For her efforts both on the court and in the classroom, junior libero Kate Avila was named to the 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-District Second Team ... A two-time MAC West Division Defensive Player of the Week honoree last season, Avila ranked seventh in the MAC and 47th nationally with a 4.94 digs-per-set average ... She notched double-digit digs in 29 of Ball State's 30 matches last season, including 15 matches with 20-or-more digs.

• Kate Avila has seen action in all 244 sets over her Ball State career, serving as the team's libero in each of the last 240 sets ... She has amassed 1,111 career digs over the span, which ranks as the 12th-best career total in program history ... In addition, her 4.55 career digs-per-set average is fourth on Ball State's career charts, while her 24 matches with 20-or-more digs are fifth and her 58 matches with double-figure digs are eighth.

• With her fourth dig in the opening set versus Toledo (Nov. 2, 2017), Kate Avila became the third-fastest player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs, doing so in 57 matches ... Amanda McCormick (2005-06)is the fastest player to reach 1,000 career digs at Ball State, doing so in 43 matches ... McCormick, who transferred to Ball State after playing two years at Nebraska, is fifth in program history with 1,579 digs ... 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.

• One big surprise for the Cardinals this season is the return of Jessica Lindsey for her fourth year of eligibility ... Lindsey, who originally elected to graduate with her class, celebrated her first senior weekend last season by putting together the best two-match performance of her collegiate career, leading Ball State with 26 kills and a .344 attack percentage versus Central Michigan (Oct. 27, 2017) and Eastern Michigan (Oct. 28, 2017) ... Lindsey tied her career high entering the weekend with 12 kills, while connecting for a .367 (12-1-30) attack percentage versus CMU ... In the win over EMU, Lindsey smashed a new career high of 14 kills and hit .324 (14-3-34) to help ensure her first senior night ended with a victory.

• Prior to her 26-kill weekend versus CMU (Oct. 27) and EMU (Oct. 28), Jessica Lindsey had not scored double digit kills in back-to-back matches in her collegiate career ... Her previous best kill total in consecutive matches was 18 when she scored six kills at Ohio (Oct. 16, 2015) and 12 kills at Kent State (Oct. 17, 2015).

• Ball State finished the 2017 season as one of the top blocking teams in the MAC, averaging 2.12 blocks per set ... Senior Meg Starling played a large role in the team's success at the net, ranking sixth in the league with a 1.01 blocks-per-set average ... Of her team-leading 79 blocks on the year, 10 (two solo and eight assists) came in the four-set victory over Idaho State (Sept. 8, 2017).d

• Meg Starling also turned in one of the most dominating offensive performances in program history last season, with a .700 (15-1-20) attack percentage at IUPUI (Sept. 5, 2017) ... The .700 attacking mark tied as the 12th-best single-match effort in program history for a player with at least 15 attack attempts in a match ... In addition, both her 15 kills and .700 attack percentage versus the Jaguars were career highs.

• Senior Emily Holland enters the Dayton Invitational as Ball State's active career blocking leader, having amassed 176 total blocks (27 solo and 149 assists) over her career ... Holland finished the 2017 season with a career-high 73 total blocks (11 solo and 62 assists), and if she can equal or better the total this season, she will break into the top 20 in program history.

• In April, assistant coach Tiffany Fisher was named one of the American Volleyball Coaches Association's 2018 Thirty Under 30 Award winners ... The 28-year-old Fisher was one of only 12 NCAA Division I coaches to make the list which honors up-and-coming coaching talent at all levels of the sport ... She is also the only representative from the MAC.

• Tiffany Fisher is not the only AVCA Thirty Under 30 Award winner on Ball State's staff, as Kelli Miller earned the honor in 2016, just prior to being named head coach of the Cardinals ... At the time, Miller was also one of only 12 NCAA Division I coaches to make the list and the only MAC representative.

• The Ball State women's volleyball program was one of a record 973 teams to earn the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2017-18 season ... The Cardinals finished the academic year with a 3.55 GPA led by a perfect 4.0 mark from redshirt senior middle/opposite Avery Devoe ... In addition, Kate Avila and sophomore setter Ali Finch earned 4.0 GPAs for the fall semester and Amber Seaman tallied a 4.0 GPA in the spring semester.

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Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Avery Devoe

Ellie Dunn

Ali Finch

Emily Holland

Jessica Lindsey

Amber Seaman

Meg Starling