Volleyball Hosts Toledo For Halloween Spooktacular

Thursday, October 31

Muncie, IND

7:00 PM

Ball State University

Toledo

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October 30, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes: Toledo & Buffalo

Match 23 - Ball State (11-11; 5-5 MAC) hosts Toledo (7-15; 0-10 MAC)
Thursday, Oct. 31 - 7 p.m. (Muncie, Ind. / Worthen Arena)
ESPN3 | Radio Broadcast (102.9 FM / 1340 AM) | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateWVB)
PROMOTIONS:
Halloween "Chirp or Treat" Spooktacular
Join Ball State Athletics for the first-ever Halloween "Chirp or Treat" Spooktacular, a FREE event for the entire community at the Oct. 31 women's volleyball match versus Toledo ... Starting at 6 p.m., Ball State fans are invited to dress in their Halloween best to trick or treat on the Worthen Arena concourse (please note props & masks are prohibited for fans age 18+) ... Student-athletes from a majority of Ball State's 19 athletic programs will be on hand to pass out candy and play games with fans of all ages thanks to the Ball State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee ... Fans are then encouraged to help haunt Worthen Arena starting at 7 p.m. when the Cardinals battle the Rockets ... Fans can receive FREE TICKETS to the match by visiting https://www.BallStateSports.com/Halloween, calling the Ball State Athletics ticket office at 888.BSU.TICKETS / 765.285.1474 or by registering at the ticket window on match night.

Match 24 - Ball State (11-11; 5-5 MAC) hosts Buffalo (8-14; 4-6 MAC)
Saturday, Nov. 2 - 7 p.m. (Muncie, Ind. / Worthen Arena)
ESPN+ | Radio Broadcast (102.9 FM / 1340 AM) | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateWVB)
PROMOTIONS:
ALUMNI NIGHT: Ball State women's volleyball welcomes back its alumni for an evening of fun, including on-court recognition and a post-match reception.

• THE WEEK AHEAD: Ball State closes its season-long four-match homestand with a pair of pivotal league matchups this weekend ... First, the Cardinals welcome Toledo to Worthen Arena for a Halloween showdown Thursday at 7 p.m. ... Buffalo then comes to town Saturday for another 7 p.m. first serve.

• CHIRP OR TREAT: Join Ball State Athletics for the first-ever Halloween "Chirp or Treat" Spooktacular, a FREE event for the entire community at the Oct. 31 women's volleyball match versus Toledo ... Starting at 6 p.m., Ball State fans are invited to dress in their Halloween best to trick or treat on the Worthen Arena concourse (please note props & masks are prohibited for fans age 18+) ... Student-athletes from a majority of Ball State's 19 athletic programs will be on hand to pass out candy and play games with fans of all ages thanks to the Ball State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee ... Fans are then encouraged to help haunt Worthen Arena starting at 7 p.m. when the Cardinals battle the Rockets ... Fans can receive FREE TICKETS to the match by visiting https://www.BallStateSports.com/Halloween, calling the Ball State Athletics ticket office at 888.BSU.TICKETS / 765.285.1474 or by registering at the ticket window on match night.

• SUPPORT BALL STATE'S DIG PINK EFFORT: Ball State women's volleyball has once again teamed up with the Side-Out Foundation for Dig Pink ... While the Cardinals hosted their Dig Pink match Oct. 26 versus Bowling Green, fans can still make an impact in the battle by donating to the cause at: https://giving.side-out.org/campaigns/16469#/ ... All funds raised for Side-Out go toward a clinical trial specifically for patients with stage 4 breast cancer, the most advanced form of the disease and the least funded area of research.

• BALL STATE ON ESPN: Both of this week's matches will be broadcast live on ESPN's streaming platforms (ESPN3 or ESPN+) ... Thursday's contest versus Toledo will be carried live on ESPN3, while Saturday's outing against Buffalo will be covered by ESPN+ ... So far this season, the Cardinals have had eight matches streamed live on ESPN platforms, going 4-4 in those matches.

• MORE WAYS TO FOLLOW: Ball State Sports Link will be back to bring fans live radio coverage of both matches this week on Muncie's Sports Station 102.9 FM and WXFN 1340 AM, as well as online at WXFN.com ... Fans can also follow along with live stats for both matches on BallStateSports.com ... 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.

• SCOUTING TOLEDO: The Rockets enter Thursday's match with a 7-15 (0-10 MAC) record ... Ball State's MAC travel partner, Toledo also lost to Bowling Green (3-1) and Miami (3-0) last weekend ... While UT has yet to pick up a league win, they have lost three five-set battles and three four-set matches ... Toledo enters the week ranked 11th in the MAC with a .195 team attack percentage, while allowing opponents to hit .222 which is 10th in the league ... However, the Rockets are one of the top serving teams in the MAC, ranking third at 1.41 aces per set ... Individually, Zoe Birnbrich ranks ninth in the league with a .321 attack percentage, while Megan Beasley is sixth with an 8.57 assists-per-set average ... UT libero Rhyne Neal, a Yorktown graduate, is 10th in the conference with a 4.02 digs-per-set average.

• SERIES VS. TOLEDO: The Cardinals hold a 67-10 lead in the all-time series versus the Rockets, including four straight wins ... In the first meeting this season, Ball State earned a 3-0 (25-19. 25-15, 25-22) victory Sept. 26 in Toledo as four freshmen smashed nine kills each (Allison Hamaker, MyKel Ivy, Natalie Mitchem and Natalie Risi) ... The Cardinals hold a 32-4 lead in matches played in Muncie, including a 24-3 record in Worthen Arena.

• SCOUTING BUFFALO: The Bulls enter the weekend with an 8-14 (4-6 MAC) record ... However, Buffalo is 4-1 against teams from the MAC West Division, including a 3-2 win over division leader Central Michigan last Saturday ... Buffalo's lone loss to a MAC West foe came last Friday at Eastern Michigan ... The Bulls enter the week ranked 10th in the MAC with a .204 attack percentage, while its .235 opponent hitting percentage is 11th ... Buffalo is one of the league's top blocking teams, however, ranking second at 2.19 blocks per set ... Individually, Lexi Nordmann is seventh in the league at 1.01 blocks per set and is eighth with a .321 attack percentage, while Polina Prokudina is ninth at 2.87 kills per set ... Monika Simkova is also fifth in aces per set (0.32), while Scout McLerran is eighth in assists per set (8.38).

• SERIES VS. BUFFALO: Ball State is 23-1 all-time versus Buffalo, including nine straight wins and a 13-0 mark inside Worthen Arena ... The Bulls' lone victory came by a score of 3-2 at Alumni Arena on Oct. 9, 2010 ... Of Ball State's 23 wins in the series, 15 have been sweeps, six have come in four sets and two have went the distance

BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS
• Ball State boasts a 923-607-2 (.603) all-time record in women's volleyball in its 48th season of play ... The Cardinals have won nine MAC West Division Championships, eight MAC Regular Season Championships, six MAC Tournament Championships, made eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament and earned one bid into the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC).

• Ball State enters the weekend with a 386-199 (.660) all-time record in MAC play ... The only program with a better all-time league mark is Western Michigan at 387-198 (.662) ... Thursday's opponent Toledo is 11th all-time at 175-410 (.299), while Saturday's opponent Buffalo is 12th at 80-276 (.225).

• While the Cardinals suffered a pair of home losses last weekend, Ball State maintains a 273-87 (.758) all-time record in Worthen Arena, including a 197-51 (.794) mark versus MAC foes ... No league foe has a winning record at Worthen Arena and this week's opponents are a combined 3-37 (.075) in the building.

• Ball State is 10-4 all-time in matches played on Halloween, including a 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-19) home victory over Buffalo in its last Halloween match in 2015 ... The Cardinals have played Toledo once on Halloween, earning a 3-0 (15-8, 15-3, 15-8) home sweep in 1998.

• Amber Seaman, the reigning MAC Setter of the Year and a six-time career MAC Setter of the Week honoree, did something she had never done before in last Saturday's match versus Bowling Green ... She dished out a career-high 62 assists versus the Falcons, marking the first time Seaman has passed out over 57 assists in a match ... The total ranks as the third-most assists in a match in the MAC this season ... Over her career, Seaman has recorded 30-or-more assists on 80 occasions, 40-or-more 46 times, 50-or-more in 16 matches and 60-or-more once.

• Amber Seaman has established herself as one of the top setters in program history, entering Thursday's match versus Toledo ranked fifth on Ball State's career charts with 3,937 assists ... Seaman, who also ranks sixth with a 10.04 career assist-per-set average, needs just 63 more assists to become only the fifth Cardinal to hand out at least 4,000 career assists.

• Amber Seaman has also gotten things done from behind the service line over her career, ranking sixth in program history with 135 aces ... Seaman, who served up 51 aces last season, joins Emily Sallee (1997-2000) and Brittany McGinnis (2008-11) as the only three players to reach 3,000 career assists and 100 career aces in a Ball State uniform.

• Senior libero Kate Avila entered last Saturday's match versus Bowling Green needing three digs to become just the third player in program history to reach the 2,000 career mark ... She got those early in the first set and never looked back, registering a career-high 38 digs to lead a solid defensive effort against the Falcons ... Avila, who also had a pair of aces and a perfect reception percentage in 21 attempts, finished the night with 2,035 career digs.

• With 2,035 career digs entering the week, Kate Avila is 55 shy of passing Alyssa Rio's (2007-10) career total of 2,089 for second on Ball State's all-time list ... In addition, she has chance to become the program's all-time career leader by the end of the season, needing just 239 more digs to pass the current record of 2,273 ... Averaging 4.28 digs per set this season, Avila would need to play in 56 more sets to pass the total ... Interestingly enough, she has the old record holder to thank for her defensive prowess as Stephanie Keller (2001-04) was Avila's high school coach at Yorktown.

• Kate Avila has played all 449 sets over her collegiate career, including 443 as Ball State's libero ... Only 10 players in program history have played in more sets than Avila, with the program record being 473 by Tiffany Stevens (1992-95) ... Avila could pass as many as four players on the list this weekend depending on the length of the matches.

• With double-figure digs in both matches last weekend, Kate Avila has now collected 10-or-more digs in a program-record 107 career matches ... The previous record was 101 set by Stephanie Keller (2001-04) and later tied by Catie Fredrich (2010-13) ... In addition, Avila has collected 20-or-more digs in 42 career matches, which ranks fourth in program history ... The program record is 49 by Alyssa Rio (2007-2010).

• Freshman outside attacker Natalie Risi joined elite company with her career-high 25 kills versus Bowling Green (Oct. 26), becoming just the fifth freshman in program history to register 20-or-more kills in a match in the rally scoring era (2001-present) ... In addition, Risi's 25 kills are the most for a Cardinal since Kelsey Brandl (2009-11) scored 25 at Toledo on Oct. 7, 2010.

• Natalie Risi is not the only Ball State freshman to join that exclusive list this season however, as outside attacker Natalie Mitchem blasted a career-high 21 kills versus USF (Aug. 30) to become only the fourth Ball State player in the rally scoring era (2001-present) to register 20-or-more kills in a match as a freshman ... Prior to the Natalies, the last player to accomplish the feat was Julie Breivogel (2006-09) with 24 kills versus Toledo on Sept. 28, 2006 ... Before that, it was Kelly Cochran (2003-06) on Nov. 7, 2003 with 20 kills at Toledo ... Ball State's all-time career kills leader Sarah Obras (2002-05) smashed 20-or-more kills in nine matches her freshman season (2002) on her way to 1,975 career kills.

• One of only two players to see action in all 85 sets for the Cardinals this season, Natalie Risi leads the Ball State offense with 236 kills and is third on the team with 231 digs ... She has smashed double-figure kills in a team-high 12 matches, including seven of the last nine ... She has also been credited with double-digit digs in nine matches and has recorded a team-high five kill/dig double-double on the year.

• Recognized by PrepVolleyball.com as one of the top 55 recruiting classes in the nation, earning "Highest Honorable Mention" accolades, Ball State's 2019 freshman class did something no other class in program history has accomplished in the Sept. 6 win over Grand Canyon ... Five members of the class smashed double digit kills in the victory, marking the first time five members of the same class have accomplished the feat in program history ... Outside Natalie Risi led the way with a career-high 17 kills, while opposite Allison Hamaker was right behind with a 16 ... Outside Natalie Mitchem collected 14 kills, while middles Marie Plitt and MyKel Ivy finished the night with career highs of 11 and 10, respectively.

• Including redshirt freshman Esther Grussing, Ball State's freshmen have accounted for 76.7 percent of the team's kills (869 of 1133), 59.9 percent of the team's digs (843 of 1407), 59.3 percent of the team's blocks (134 of 226), 59.0 percent of the team's aces (62 of 105) and 34.2 percent of the team's assists (360 of 1052) this season.

• Freshman defensive specialist Chloe Rickenbach became the third different Ball State player to log 20-or-more digs in a match this season with her career-high 24 versus Bowling Green (Oct. 26) ... Rickenbach also turned in an impressive performance from behind the service line versus Missouri State (Sept. 21), serving up a career-high six aces ... It's the highest total for a Ball State player since Amber Seaman served up six aces versus Ohio on Oct. 12, 2018 ... In the 48-year history of the program, a Cardinal has served up six-or-more aces just 35 times.