Volleyball Opens Busy Week Tuesday at No. 17 Purdue

Match 3 - Ball State at No. 17 Purdue
Tuesday, Sept. 3 - 7 p.m. (West Lafayette, IN / Holloway Gymnasium)
Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video | Social Media (@BallStateWVB)

Match 4 - Ball State vs. Grand Canyon
Friday, Sept. 6 - 10 a.m. PT (Spokane, WA / Charlotte Y. Martin Centre)
Social Media (@BallStateWVB)

Match 5 - Ball State vs. Montana
Friday, Sept. 6 - 4 p.m. PT (Spokane, WA / Charlotte Y. Martin Centre)
Social Media (@BallStateWVB)

Match 6 - Ball State at Gonzaga
Saturday, Sept. 7 - 11 a.m. PT (Spokane, WA / Charlotte Y. Martin Centre)
Social Media (@BallStateWVB)

• THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball program opens its busiest week of the season Tuesday, when it travels to West Lafayette for a 7 p.m. showdown with 17th-ranked Purdue at Holloway Gymnasium ... From there, the Cardinals head to Spokane, Washington, for three matches in the Gonzaga Invitational (Sept. 6-7).

• FOLLOW THE ACTION PART 1: Tuesday's match at Purdue will be broadcast live on BTN+ (subscription required) ... In addition, the Boilermakers are offering live audio on WSHY 104.3 FM ... Live Stats will also be available to follow the match ... Live streaming options for this weekend's Gonzaga Invitational are currently unavailable.

• 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.

• IN THE SERIES: The Cardinals trail Purdue by a 25-9 mark in the all-time series, with the Boilermakers owning 17 consecutive wins ... In the latest meeting, the Boilermakers scored a 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-14) victory Sept. 18, 2015 in a match also played at Holloway Gymnasium ... BSU's last win in the series was a 2-1 (15-8, 10-15, 15-8) victory Nov. 11, 1977 ... Ball State is a perfect 2-0 all-time versus Montana, including a 3-2 (23-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-12) victory in the latest meeting played Sept. 5, 2014 in Laramie, Wyoming ... Ball State will be facing both Grand Canyon and Gonzaga for the first time in women's volleyball.

BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS
• Ball State boasts a 913-597-2 (.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).

• With a 3-0 (31-29, 25-23, 25-20) sweep of UAB in last Friday's season-opener, the Cardinals improved to 25-23 all-time in season-opening matches ... Over Kelli Miller Phillip's 10 seasons with the program, the last four as head coach following a six-year stint as an assistant coach, the Cardinals are 19-9 in season-opening tournaments.

• Outside attacker Natalie Mitchem joined elite company in last Friday's match versus USF (Aug. 30), 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.

• Natalie Mitchem would go on to earn all-tournament honors at the Ball State Tournament after leading the Ball State attack with 32 total kills and a 4.00 kills-per-set average ... Mitchem was the only Cardinals attacker to smash double-digit kills in both matches of the tournament, adding 11 in her collegiate debut versus UAB (Aug. 30).

• Meanwhile in the backcourt, senior libero Kate Avila earned all-tournament honors after leading the Ball State defense with 32 total digs for a 4.00 digs-per-set average ... She collected 16 digs in each match of the tournament, while boasting a .939 (62-for-66) reception percentage on the day.

• A two-time MAC West Division Defensive Player of the Week last season, senior Kate Avila has played all 372 sets over her collegiate career, including the last 368 as Ball State's libero ... She enters Tuesday's match at Purdue with 1,703 career digs to rank fourth in program history ... In addition, Avila's 4.58 career digs-per-set average is fourth on BSU's all-time list, while her 92 matches (including 63 straight) with double-figure digs are tied for fourth.

• With her 1,703 career digs entering the week, Kate Avila has a chance at becoming the program's all-time career digs leader by the end of the season ... She needs just 571 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 ... Her 3,398 career assists currently rank sixth in program history, while her 10.14 career assists-per-set average is fifth on Ball State's career charts ... Seaman, who handed out 1,223 assists last season which is 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 11th in program history with 115 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.

• Natalie Mitchem was not the only freshman to play a big role for the Cardinals opening weekend ... In fact, at several points during the match versus USF (Aug. 30) it was five freshman an senior setter Amber Seaman on the court ... Overall, Ball State's freshman accounted for 69.2 percent of the team's aces (9 of 13), 63.3 percent of the team's kills (69 of 109), 55.2 percent of the team's blocks (16 of 29) and 49.1 percent of the team's digs (53 of 108).

• Freshman outside attacker Natalie Risi turned in a solid opening weekend, tying for team-high honors with 11 kills in the win over UAB (Aug. 30) while leading the Ball State defense with 17 digs versus USF (Aug. 30) ... She also served up four aces against the Blazers and tallied four total blocks on the day.

• Freshman middle Marie Plitt led the Ball State block at the Ball State Tournament, collecting seven total blocks over the two matches ... Her biggest match came versus USF (Aug. 30) when she was credited with six total blocks, including the Cardinals lone solo stuff of the tournament.

• Marie Plitt was just as strong on offense, registering seven kills versus UAB (Aug. 30) and following with nine kills against USF (Aug. 30) ... The sister of Ball State football starting quarterback Drew Plitt, she also led Ball State's starting attackers with a .314 (16-5-35) attack percentage for the tournament.

• Freshman Maggie Huber ranked second among Ball State's defensive specialists with 18 digs at the Ball State Tournament, including a career-high 12 versus USF (Aug. 30) ... She also finished the contest versus the Bulls with a perfect reception percentage (12 for 12) ... In addition, Huber served up four aces against UAB (Aug. 30).

• One of Ball State's main offensive weapons last season, senior middle Sydnee VanBeek tied for match-high honors with 11 kills in Friday's 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.

• Ball State's 2019 freshman class proved why it's considered one of the nation's top 55 recruiting classes opening weekend, providing plenty of highlights on both offense and defense ... The group was recognized by PrepVolleyball.comas one of 25 to earn "Highest Honorable Mention" accolades which is the highest ranking outside the top 30 ... No other school from the Mid-American Conference had a team ranked in the top 55.

• The last Ball State recruiting class to earn the "Highest Honorable Mention" honor from PrepVolleyball.comwas the 2015 incoming class which included 2018 seniors Carly Cappello, Ellie Dunn, Emily Holland and Lauren Schreiner ... The four capped their playing careers by helping lead the Cardinals to back-to-back MAC West Division titles and a berth into the 2018 National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC).

Volleyball Opens Busy Week Tuesday at No. 17 Purdue

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Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Carly Cappello

Ellie Dunn

Emily Holland

Maggie Huber

Natalie Mitchem

Marie Plitt

Natalie Risi

Lauren Schreiner

Amber Seaman

Sydnee VanBeek