Volleyball Back in Action Friday at Gonzaga Invitational

MUNCIE, Ind. - - After a Tuesday tilt at No. 18 Purdue, it's a quick turnaround for the Ball State women's volleyball program which traveled west today for this weekend's Gonzaga Invitational.

First up for the Cardinals, a 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) showdown Friday versus Grand Canyon at the Charlotte Y. Marti in Spokane, Washington. Ball State closes the opening day of the tournament with a 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT) contest versus Montana.

The Cardinals conclude their second pre-conference tournament of the season Saturday with a 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT) showdown against the host Bulldogs.

Ball State Volleyball Quick Hits
• Ball State is 2-0 all-time versus teams in the Gonzaga Invitational field, with both wins coming versus Montana … The Cardinals will be playing both Grand Canyon and Gonzaga for the first time in women's volleyball.

SERIES VERSUS MONTANA (2-0)
9/30/1997 Ball State 15-13, 15-10, 15-2 N
9/5/2014 Ball State 23-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-12 N
H: 0-0 A: 0-0 N: 2-0

• Freshman outside attacker Natalie Mitchem joined elite company in last Friday's 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.

• Senior Kate Avila has played all 375 sets over her collegiate career, including the last 371 as Ball State's libero ... She enters the Gonzaga Invitational with 1,706 career digs to rank fourth in program history ... In addition, Avila's 4.55 career digs-per-set average is fourth on BSU's all-time list, while her 92 matches with double-figure digs are tied for fourth.

• With her 1,706 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 568 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 3,419 career assists currently rank sixth in program history, while her 10.12 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 116 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 is not the only freshman playing a big role for the Cardinals so far this season ... In fact, at several points over the first three matches there have been as many as five freshmen on the court at the same time ... Overall, Ball State's freshmen accounted for 68.8 percent of the team's aces (11 of 16), 66.2 percent of the team's kills (92 of 139), 55.2 percent of the team's blocks (16 of 29) and 53.1 percent of the team's digs (69 of 130).

Volleyball Back in Action Friday at Gonzaga Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Kate Avila

Natalie Mitchem

Amber Seaman