Volleyball Opens #MACtion Thursday at Toledo

Match 13 - Ball State (6-6; 0-0 MAC) at Toledo (7-5; 0-0 MAC)
Friday, Sept. 26 - 7 p.m. (Toledo, Ohio / Savage Arena)
ESPN+ | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateWVB)

Match 14 - Ball State (6-6; 0-0 MAC) at Akron (7-4; 0-0 MAC)
Saturday, Sept. 28 - 7 p.m. (Akron, Ohio / James A. Rhodes Arena)
Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateWVB)

• THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team opens Mid-American Conference play this week, starting Thursday with a 7 p.m. first serve at Toledo ... The Cardinals will then travel to Akron for a 7 p.m. Saturday showdown with the Zips.

• WATCHESPN: Thursday's match at Toledo will be carried live on ESPN+ ... This will be Ball State's third match on ESPN+ so far this season, with the Cardinals owning a 1-1 record on the platform with a five-set loss to USF (Aug. 30) and a 3-0 victory over Missouri State (Sept. 21) ... Overall, Ball State is scheduled to play seven matches on ESPN+ and four on ESPN 3 this season.

• MORE WAYS TO FOLLOW: Live stats will also be available for both matches this week, courtesy of the host institutions ... 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: Toledo enters Thursday's contest with a 7-5 overall record after going 1-2 at last weekend's Beale Street Challenge hosted by Memphis ... The Cardinals and Rockets have one opponent in common so far this season, with Wright State sweeping UT on Sept. 14 ... Toledo enters MAC play leading the conference in attack percentage (.229) and aces per set (1.60) ... Individually, Zoe Birnbrich leads the Rockets with 118 kills and 33 total blocks, while Chloee Kleespies has a team-best 3.09 kills-per-set average ... Yorktown graduate Rhyen Neal leads the Toledo backcourt with 163 digs and a 3.79 digs-per-set average.

• SERIES VS. TOLEDO: Ball State holds a 66-10 lead in the all-time series versus Toledo, including three straight wins ... Last season, the Cardinals swept both meetings, winning 25-17, 25-18, 25-19 in Muncie on Oct. 4 and 25-15, 25-20, 25-20 in Toledo on Nov. 8 ... Ball State also owns a 28-5 edge in matches played in Toledo.

• SCOUTING AKRON: Akron enters the start of league play with a 7-4 overall record, with its .636 winning percentage leading the MAC East Division in non-conference play ... The Zips have also played Wright State this season, suffering a 3-0 setback to the Raiders on Sept. 7 ... Akron is among the league leaders in defense, holding opponents to a .173 attack percentage which ranks third in the MAC ... The Zips are also second in aces per set at 1.59 ... Individually, Ashley Richardson leads the league with a .419 attack percentage and is sixth in points per set (3.54) ... Akron libero Taylor Sharrits is eighth in the MAC at 3.82 digs per set.

• SERIES VS. AKRON: Ball State is 35-4 all-time versus Akron, including five straight wins ... Last season, the Cardinals earned a hard-fought 3-2 (25-21, 25-16, 17-25, 23-25, 15-11) victory over the Zips in Worthen Arena on Nov. 10 ... Akron's last win in the series was a 3-1 (25-17, 25-19, 9-25, 26-24) victory on its home court Nov. 9, 2013 ... Ball State is 16-3 all-time in Akron, including two straight wins.

BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS
• Ball State boasts a 918-602-2 (.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).

• After finishing the 2018 season with a 12-4 league record, Ball State enters the 2019 MAC season with a 381-194 (.663) all-time record in MAC play ... The only program with a better all-time league mark is Western Michigan at 384-191 (.668) ... Toledo is 11th all-time at 175-400 (.304), while Akron is ninth based on winning percentage at 171-278 (.381).

• After leading the Cardinals with a 3.82 kills-per-set average at last weekend's Ball State Active Ankle Challenge, freshman opposite Allison Hamaker was named the MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week ... A member of the Active Ankle Challenge All-Tournament Team, Hamaker recorded double-digit kills in all three matches, including tying her career high with 16 kills versus Wright State (Sept. 21) ... She also hit a team-best .337 (42-11-92) over the two-day event, with her best effort coming Saturday night when she connected at a .526 (11-2-19) clip against Missouri State (Sept. 21).

• Since making her collegiate debut at then-No. 18 Purdue, Allison Hamaker has been a mainstay in the Ball State rotation, leading the team with 110 kills and a 2.89 kill-per-set average over the last 10 matches ... Her .261 (110-38-276) attack percentage is second among the team's attackers during the span, while she has also collected 17 digs and 14 total blocks ... She also leads Ball State with double digit kills in six matches this season.

• Sydnee VanBeek enters MAC play ranked second in the league with a 1.14 blocks-per-set average this season ... She has accumulated 32 total blocks, including nine solo blocks which ranks third in the league ... VanBeek enters the week ranked 17th in program history with 268 total blocks, moving up three spots from the previous week ... In addition, her 222 career block assists are 20th on Ball State's all-time charts, while her 46 career solo blocks are six shy of breaking into the top 20.

• 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 (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.

• 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 78.3 percent of the team's kills (474 of 605), 65.1 percent of the team's blocks (86 of 132), 61.0 percent of the team's aces (36 of 59), 57.8 percent of the team's digs (408 of 706) and 42.1 percent of the team's assists (236 of 561) 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 ... She went on to tie the mark with 31 digs versus Wright State (Sept. 21) and has now registered 30-or-more digs in a match seven times over her career ... Avila's 31 digs also tie as the sixth-best single-match total in the MAC so far this season.

• Kate Avila has played all 411 sets over her collegiate career, including the last 407 as Ball State's libero ... She enters Thursday's match at Toledo with 1,866 career digs to rank fourth in program history ... In addition, Avila's 4.54 career digs-per-set average is fourth on BSU's all-time list, while her 98 matches with double-figure digs are third.

• With her 1,866 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 407 more digs to pass the current record of 2,273 ... With 16 regular season matches remaining, Avila would need to average 25.44 digs per match 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.

• Senior Amber Seaman has already established herself as one of the top setters in program history ... In last Saturday's match versus Wright State (Sept. 21) she move up one spot to fifth in program history with 3,586 career assists, moving past Angie Parrell's (2004-07) career total of 3,535 ... Seaman also ranks sixth on BSU's career charts with a 10.04 assist-per-set average ... Seaman 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, tying for ninth in program history with 121 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 Chloe Rickenbach 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 Ball State women's volleyball a Cardinal has served up six-or-more aces just 35 times.

• 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.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Esther Grussing

Allison Hamaker

Maggie Huber

MyKel Ivy

Natalie Mitchem

Marie Plitt

Chloe Rickenbach

Natalie Risi

Amber Seaman

Sydnee VanBeek