Volleyball Set for Three Matches at Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational

THIS WEEK'S LINKS
Friday, Aug. 31
vs. Grambling State (5:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. CT) - Live Stats

Saturday, Sept. 1
vs. Oral Roberts (11 a.m. ET / 10 a.m. CT) - Live Stats
at Missouri State (8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT) - Live Stats | ESPN+

WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK
• THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to the road this weekend for the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational hosted by Missouri State ... The Cardinals open the two-day event Friday versus Grambling State (5:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. CT) ... Ball State battles Oral Roberts (11 a.m. ET / 10 a.m. CT) and the host Bears (8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT) Saturday.

• FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live stats will be available for all three of this weekend's matches at the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational ... In addition, Saturday's night match versus the host Bears 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 30-day free trial and can be used on up to five streaming devices simultaneously.

• 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 an 892-587-2 (.603) 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.

• AGAINST THE TOURNAMENT FIELD: Ball State is 1-4 all-time versus teams in the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational field ... The Cardinals are 0-2 all-time versus Oral Roberts, with the last meeting being a 3-2 loss in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Sept. 1, 1997 ... Ball State is 1-2 all-time versus Missouri State, with the last meeting being another 3-2 loss on Sept. 12, 2014 at the HotelRed Invitational hosted by Wisconsin ... The Cardinals will be facing Grambling State for the first time in women's volleyball ... A complete series history for each opponent can be found on page four of this release.

ABOUT THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS
• Grambling State enters Friday's match after going 0-3 at last weekend's North Texas Tournament ... The Tigers were swept by both MAC member Kent State and Northeastern, while suffering a 3-1 loss to Nicholls State ... Tess Reynolds leads the team with 26 kills and a 2.60 kills-per-set average, while Sheila Borders and L'Muriell Thrower have set the offense to a .127 attack percentage out of a 6-2 offense ... Kabria Dame leads the Grambling State defense with 20 digs for a 2.00 digs-per-set average.

• Oral Roberts enters the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational after going 1-2 at last weekend's Rumble in the Rockies hosted by Wyoming ... After falling to No. 15 Colorado (3-1) and host Wyoming (3-0) on the opening day of the event, the Golden Eagles closed the tournament with a win over North Florida (3-1) ... CeCe Madison leads the team with 38 kills and a 3.45 kills-per-set average, while Bria Bergman has set the offense to a .144 attack percentage ... Tori Roe has a team-high 35 digs for a 3.18 digs-per-set average

• Missouri State enters its home tournament after going 0-3 at a tough Hampton Inn Charleston/West Ashley College of Charleston Classic last weekend ... The Bears suffered a hard-fought 3-2 loss to the College of Charleston on the opening day of the event, before suffering a pair of 3-1 setbacks to Alabama and Western Kentucky on final day of the tournament ... Amelia Flynn leads the team with 36 kills and a 3.00 kills-per-set average, while Daniele Messa and Chloe Rear have set the offense to a .131 attack percentage out of a 6-2 offense ... Emily Butters has a team-high 56 digs for a 4.31 digs-per-set average.

BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS
• With a 3-2 win over South Alabama last Friday, Ball State improved to 24-23 all-time in season-opening matches ... The Cardinals also climbed to 18-8 in season-opening tournaments over the past nine years after posting a 2-1 record at last weekend's Dayton Invitational.

• The Cardinals will look to even their ESPN record Saturday night, when it battles Missouri State on the streaming platform ... Ball State is 0-1 so far this season in ESPN or ESPN3 matches ... Overall, the Cardinals are currently scheduled to have 17 of its 29 matches carried live by either ESPN or ESPN3 ... 11 of the contests will be on ESPN and six will be aired 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.

• Ball State's student-athletes picked up two of the three MAC West Division weekly awards for their play at last weekend's Dayton Invitational ... Senior outside hitter Ellie Dunn was named the MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career, while junior setter Amber Seaman picked up the inaugural MAC West Division Setter of the Week award.

• Ellie Dunn led the Cardinals with a 3.83 kills per set average and hit .336 (46-10-107) last weekend ... A member of the Dayton Invitational All-Tournament Team, Dunn registered double-digit kills in all three matches, starting with a season-high 17 in the win over South Alabama ... She followed with 16 kills versus the host Flyers and added 13 in the sweep of Marshall ... Dunn was just as impressive on defense, recording a career-high 10 digs versus both South Alabama and Dayton for her first two career double-doubles ... She finished the weekend with a 2.33 digs-per-set average and led Ball State's primary passers with a .967 (59-for-61) reception percentage.

• Ellie Dunn enters the weekend as Ball State's active career kills leader at 719 ... She has smashed double-digit kills in 70 career matches, including all three this season ... A 2017 All-MAC Honorable Mention, 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 led the Ball State offense to a .231 attack percentage last weekend, dishing out 117 assists for a 9.75 assists-per-set average ... A member of the Dayton Invitational All-Tournament Team, Seaman guided Ball State's offense to a season-best .385 (48-11-96) attack percentage in the victory over Marshall ... It was the team's best attack percentage in a match since a .396 (45-7-96) effort in a sweep of Buffalo Sept. 30, 2017 ... Seaman was Ball State's top server at the season-opening tournament, collecting a team-high five aces ... She also ranked third on the team in both digs (20) and blocks (5).

• Amber Seaman enters the weekend ranked 11th in program history with 2,200 career assists ... A 2017 All-MAC Honorable Mention, Seaman dished out 1,111 assists last season to become just the 11th Ball State setter to record over 1,000 assists in a season ... In addition, her 10.00 career assists-per-set average ranks sixth in program history and she is on pace to become only the fifth Cardinal to hand out over 4,000 career assists.

• Junior libero Kate Avila was credited with double-digit digs in all three matches of the Dayton Invitational, and has now reached double figures in 32 consecutive matches and 61 times over her career ... Her 28 digs versus Dayton were the seventh-best single match total in her career ... Avila has played in all 256 sets over her Ball State career, playing the last 252 as the team's libero.

• With her 55 digs last weekend, Kate Avila climbed from 12th to 10th in program history with 1,166 career digs ... She is the third-fastest player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs, doing so in 57 matches ... Avila is also fourth on Ball State's career charts with a 4.55 career digs-per-set average, while her 25 matches with 20-or-more digs are fifth and her 61 matches with double-figure digs are seventh.

• 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) ... She seemingly carried over the momentum early this season, blasting 22 kills to rank second on the team with a 2.75 kills-per-set average at the Dayton Invitational ... She registered a season-high 10 kills in the sweep of Marshall and hit .262 (22-5-65) for the weekend.

• In a career filled with big match performances, senior middle Meg Starling turned in another in last Saturday's sweep of Marshall ... She blasted eight kills on 11 attempts with no errors for a career-best .727 attack percentage ... The attack percentage ties as the 10th-best single match total for a player with 10-to-14 attempts in program history.

• Last season, Meg Starling turned in another one of the most dominating offensive performances in program history, 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.

• Freshman opposite Reece Kral started her career with a bang, leading the Ball State offense with a .350 (16-2-40) attack percentage at the Dayton Invitational ... Her best match came in the win over South Alabama, when she registered a career-high six kills while hitting for a .545 (6-0-11) rate of success.

• Ball State turned in a dominating effort from the service line at the Dayton Invitational, finishing the weekend with 21 total aces ... Amber Seaman led the way with five aces, raising her career total to 68 which leads Ball State's active players ... One surprise from the service line was Ellie Dunn who collected her first three career aces versus Dayton.

• 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 MAC representative.

• 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.

Volleyball Set for Three Matches at Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Avery Devoe

Ellie Dunn

Ali Finch

Reece Kral

Jessica Lindsey

Amber Seaman

Meg Starling