Volleyball Opens NKU Invitational Friday vs. Host Norse

Match 7 - Ball State at Northern Kentucky
Friday, Sept. 13 - 6 p.m. ET (Highland Heights, Ky. / Regents Hall)
Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateWVB)

Match 8 - Ball State vs. Cincinnati
Saturday, Sept. 14 - 10 a.m. ET (Highland Heights, Ky. / Regents Hall)
Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateWVB)

Match 9 - Ball State vs. Notre Dame
Saturday, Sept. 14 - 5:30 p.m. ET (Highland Heights, Ky. / Regents Hall)
Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateWVB)

• THE WEEK AHEAD: The third week of the 2019 season sees the Ball State women's volleyball team travel to Highland Heights, Kentucky, for the NKU Invitational ... First up for the Cardinals, a 6 p.m. first serve versus tournament host Northern Kentucky on Friday ... Saturday will see Ball State battle Cincinnati (10 a.m.) and in-state foe Notre Dame (5:30 p.m.).

• FOLLOW THE ACTION PART 1: Fans not traveling to NKU can follow all three Ball State matches with live stats at: http://www.sidearmstats.com/nku/wvball/

• MORE WAYS TO FOLLOW: 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.

• SERIES VS. NORTHERN KENTUCKY: Northern Kentucky holds a 3-2 edge in the all-time series after picking up a 3-1 (25-23, 10-25, 25-18, 25-15) victory over Ball State on Sept. 9, 2016 at the Morehead State Invitational ... Prior to that match, the Cardinals and Norse had not played since the 1981 season ... Friday's match will mark the first time the Cardinals have played at NKU, as four of the five previous meetings have been on neutral courts.

• SERIES VS. CINCINNATI: Saturday's morning match versus Cincinnati will mark the 15th meeting in the all-time series which is tied at 7-7 ... UC has won the last two meetings, with the most recent being a 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-14) victory at the Indiana Invitational on Sept. 19, 2008 ... The teams are also all square in neutral site meetings at 2-2.

• SERIES VS. NOTRE DAME: Notre Dame holds a 4-2 edge in the all-time series entering Saturday's evening match, including a 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-19) win Sept. 18, 2015 at the Purdue Boiler Box Challenge ... Prior to that, the teams had not met since a 3-2 (10-15, 15-10, 6-15, 15-9, 15-12) Ball State victory on Oct. 1, 1996 ... The Fighting Irish also hold a 2-1 advantage in neutral site meetings.

BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS
• Ball State boasts a 915-599-2 (.604) 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).

• Outside attacker Natalie Mitchem joined elite company in the Aug. 30 match versus USF, becoming 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 ... The last player to accomplish the feat was Julie Breivogel with 24 kills versus Toledo on Sept. 28, 2006 ... Before that, it was Kelly Cochran on Nov. 7, 2003 with 20 kills at Toledo ... Ball State's all-time career kills leader Sarah Obras smashed 20-or-more kills in nine matches her freshman season (2002) on her way to 1,975 career kills.

• 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, marking the first time the Cardinals have had five players score double figure kills in the same match since Oct. 15, 2016 vs. Ohio and 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 career-best 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.

• Adding to the freshman fun in the win over Grand Canyon (Sept. 6) was defensive specialist Maggie Huber with 13 digs ... While she is not part of the same recruiting class, redshirt freshman setter Esther Grussing saw action in all five sets, starting the last three ... She handed out a career-high 51 assists while collecting 14 digs for her first career double-double ... Grussing was also credited with a kill and three total blocks, including a huge solo stuff to end the fourth set, at 36-34, in Ball State's favor.

• Including redshirt freshman Esther Grussing, Ball State's freshmen have accounted for 80.1 percent of the team's kills (229 of 286), 73.1 percent of the team's blocks (38 of 52), 64.5 percent of the team's aces (20 of 31) and 54.0 percent of the team's digs (157 of 291) so far this season.

• Freshman Natalie Risi was named to the Gonzaga Invitational All-Tournament Team after leading the Cardinals with 35 kills and a 3.18 kills-per-set average during the tournament ... She also ranked second on the team with a 2.73 digs-per-set average for the event ... Risi was credited with her first career double-double in the win over Grand Canyon (Sept. 6), leading the offense with 17 kills while ranking second on the defense with 14 digs.

• Leading the way in digs versus Grand Canyon (Sept. 6) was senior libero Kate Avila with a season-high 31 ... It's the sixth time in her career Avila has registered 30-or-more digs in a match ... Avila's 31 digs also tie as the fourth-best single match total in the MAC so far this season.

• Kate Avila has played all 386 sets over her collegiate career, including the last 382 as Ball State's libero ... She enters Friday's match at Northern Kentucky with 1,760 career digs to rank fourth in program history ... In addition, Avila's 4.56 career digs-per-set average is fourth on BSU's all-time list, as are her 94 matches with double-figure digs.

• With her 1,760 career digs entering the week, Kate Avila has a chance to become the program's all-time career digs leader by the end of the season ... She needs just 514 more digs to pass the current record of 2,273 ... 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.

• Senior Amber Seaman has already established herself as one of the top setters in program history ... Both her 3,462 career assists and 10.06 career assists-per-set average rank sixth on Ball State's career charts ... Seaman, whose 1,223 assists last season were the 12th-best single season total in program history, is currently on pace to become only the fifth Cardinal to hand out over 4,000 career assists.

• Amber Seaman has also gotten things done from behind the service line over her career, ranking 10th in program history with 117 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.

• Freshman middle Marie Plitt enters the NKU Invitational with a team-high 12 total blocks (four solo and eight assists) this season ... Plitt is one of just seven MAC players to have at least four solo blocks so far this season, with her total tying for fifth ... Ohio's Dahlias Bouyer leads the MAC with seven solo blocks.

• Marie Plitt has been just as strong on offense, registering 42 kills for a 1.91 kills-per-set average from the middle ... She blasted a career-high 11 kills versus Grand Canyon (Sept. 6), while adding 10 kills and a career-best .643 (10-1-14) attack percentage at Gonzaga (Sept. 7) ... The sister of Ball State football starting quarterback Drew Plitt, she is one of only four Cardinals to play in all 22 sets so far this season.

• Ball State enters the week ranked third in the MAC with a 1.41 ace-per-set average ... Freshman Natalie Risi leads the way with 10 aces, including a career-high four aces versus USF (Aug. 30) ... In fact, four has been a popular number in aces for the Cardinals this season as freshman defensive specialist Maggie Huber served up four in the season-opening win over UAB (Aug. 30) and sophomore defensive specialist Cathryn Starck added four in the sweep of Montana (Sept. 6).

• One of Ball State's main offensive weapons last season, senior middle Sydnee VanBeek tied for match-high honors with 11 kills in the win over UAB (Aug. 30) ... VanBeek leads active Cardinals with 627 career kills, including double-digit kills in 28 career matches ... She also leads Ball State's active players with 240 career blocks, including 37 solo blocks and 203 block assists.

• The two-time defending MAC West Division champions, Ball State received 10 of the 12 first-place votes and 68 total points to three-peat as the divisional champions in the league's annual preseason poll ... Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan each received one first place vote and were selected second (57) and third (43), respectively ... Central Michigan (39), Northern Illinois (24) and Toledo (21) round out the division.

• For the second consecutive season, Ball State placed a pair of student-athletes on the Preseason All-MAC West Division Team ... Representing the Cardinals on the six-player list are senior setter Amber Seaman and senior middle blocker Sydnee VanBeek.

Volleyball Opens NKU Invitational Friday vs. Host Norse

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Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Esther Grussing

Allison Hamaker

Maggie Huber

MyKel Ivy

Natalie Mitchem

Marie Plitt

Natalie Risi

Amber Seaman

Cathryn Starck

Sydnee VanBeek