Volleyball Travels To NIU For Pivotal MAC West Showdown

Ball State (12-6; 4-2 MAC) at Northern Illinois (13-4; 6-1 MAC)
Match 19 at Northern Illinois	Friday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT Live Stats \| NIU All-Acccess (PPV: $6.95 for 24-hour pass) \| Tickets
Match 20 at Northern Illinois	Saturday, Oct. 15 at 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT Live Stats \| NIU All-Acccess (PPV: $6.95 for 24-hour pass) \| Tickets
Notes	Ball State \| Northern Illinois
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram

UP THIS WEEK: The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to the road this weekend for a pair of matches at Northern Illinois ... The Cardinals and Huskies will square off at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT Friday and 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT Saturday at Victor E. Court.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Both of this weekend's matches will be streamed live on NIU All-Access ($6.95 for a 24-hour pass) ... In addition, live stats will be available courtesy of the host Huskies ... Live updates from the matches will also be provided on the team's Twitter feed: @BallStateWVB.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES: Northern Illinois is the only team from the Mid-American Conference to hold an all-time series lead versus Ball State, with a 28-26 edge ... The Cardinals won both matches played in the 2021 fall season, while the Huskies claimed wins in both 2021 spring meetings ... All four of those matches were played inside Worthen Arena ... The last time Ball State traveled to DeKalb was Nov. 9, 2019, with BSU earning a 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-22) victory ... Overall, the last seven matches in the series have been won via sweep.

BALL STATE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS:
• In its 51st season of play, Ball State boasts a 983-630-2 (.609) all-time record in women's volleyball ... The Cardinals have captured 11 MAC West Division Championships, nine MAC Regular Season Championships, and eight MAC Tournament Championships ... Ball State made its 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season, earning a first-round victory over Michigan for the third NCAA Tournament win in program history ... BSU has also earned one bid into the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC).

• Ball State enters Friday's match versus Northern Illinois as the winningest program in league play with a 422-214 (.664) all-time Mid-American Conference record ... Western Michigan is second on the list, a one-and-a-half matches behind the Cardinals at 421-216 (.661) ... Northern Illinois is fourth all-time based on winning percentage at 298-189 (.612).

• The Cardinals own an even better record when playing at home, boasting a 301-94 (.762) mark inside Worthen Arena ... Factor in opponents from just the Mid-American Conference and Ball State is 220-57 (.794) when battling in "The Nest" ... No MAC opponent owns a winning record inside Worthen Arena, as the Cardinals have at least a .632 winning percentage against all league schools on its current home floor.

• Ball State enters this weekend's series at NIU with the longest active winning streak in the MAC at four matches ... After opening league play with a pair of road losses at Central Michigan (Sept. 23-24), the Cardinals swept a home series versus Eastern Michigan (Sept. 30 and Oct. 1), and topped both Akron (Oct. 7) and Buffalo (Oct. 8) ... Last week, it was the play of junior outside Cait Snyder which led the way, as she smashed career-high kill totals in each victory.

• Cait Snyder started last week with a then-career-high 15 kills in the win over Akron (Oct. 7) ... She followed with a new career-best 18 kills versus Buffalo (Oct. 8) ...  During BSU's current four-match winning streak, Snyder is leading the team with a 3.64 kills-per-set average, with double-digit kills in three of the four outings ... She is also hitting .230 (51-19-139) over the span.

• Ball State's backcourt enters the weekend as one of the nation's best, ranking second in the MAC and seventh nationally with a 17.19 digs-per-set average ... In addition, the Cardinals' 1238 total digs are seventh nationally.

• Three Ball State student-athletes rank in the top 275 nationally in total digs, led by senior libero Maggie Huber in 114th at 262 ... Sophomore setter Megan Wielonski is close behind in 167th at 238, while senior defensive specialist Havyn Gates is 263rd at 206 ... Overall, Ball State has five regulars averaging at least 2.47 digs per set, led by Huber at 3.64.

•  In addition to leading the team with a 3.64 digs-per-set average this season, Maggie Huber has started 13 of BSU's 18 matches at libero ... She has collected double-digit digs in 15 matches, including a season-high 24 in last Friday's win over Akron ... She collected 22 digs at South Florida (Aug. 26) and versus Eastern Michigan (Sept. 30) ... Huber also leads Ball State's primary passers with a .951 reception percentage, with just 15 reception errors in 304 total attempts.

•  Havyn Gates served as BSU's starting libero in the other five matches and own's BSU's three largest single-match dig totals so far this season ... She collected a Ball State career-high 33 digs in the five-set thriller at Central Michigan (Sept. 24) and scored 24 digs in five-set matches versus Dayton (Sept. 13) and Northern Kentucky (Sept. 16) ... Gates, who registered a career-high 42 digs as a freshman at Indiana Wesleyan in 2019, has 1,646 career digs including 522 at BSU and 1,124 at IWU.

• On offensive, senior middle Marie Plitt enters the weekend ranked third in the MAC and 36th nationally with a .386 (183-29-399) attack percentage ... That mark includes a program record .833 (15-0-18) rate of success in Ball State's sweep of Arkansas State (Sept. 9) ... So far this season, Plitt has hit .300-or-better in 14 of BSU's 18 matches, including a .467 (8-1-15) effort at No. 10 Purdue (Sept. 17) ... Plitt also enters the weekend as the team leader with a 2.54 kills-per-set average, including double-digit kills in nine matches.

• Megan Wielonski is picking up right where she left off last season, dishing out 754 total assists so far this season ... The total currently stands as the sixth-most in the nation ... She also ranks 34th nationally with a 10.47 assists-per-set average ... Last season, Wielonski finished the year ranked second nationally with 1,394 total assists ... Over her career, Wielonski has helped the Cardinals hit .300-or-better as a team in 13 of her 52 matches as the program's starting setter, included two of the top four single-match performances in program history.

• Megan Wielonski became just the 16th player in program history to eclipse 1,000 career assists last season, while her 2,148 career assists currently rank 12th on BSU's all-time list … In addition, she became just the third player in program history to record over 1,000 assists as a freshman, joining Brittany McGinnis (1,245 in 2008) and Emily Sallee (1,387 in 1997).

• In addition to being one of the nation's top setters, Megan Wielonski enters the weekend ranked 32nd nationally with 31 service aces ... Last season, she ranked eighth among all NCAA Division I players with 58 aces, including a career-high seven vs. Ohio (Sept. 30) ... Her 58 aces in 2021 tied as the sixth-most in a single season in Ball State history and were a single season record for a BSU setter, topping Amber Seaman's total of 51 in 2018 ... Overall, her 89 career aces are 10 shy of breaking into the top 20 in program history.

• Lauren Gilliland enters the weekend ranked eighth in the MAC with a .324 (147-27-370) attack percentage ... She has hit .350-or-better seven times in 2022, including a .533 (17-1-30) mark versus Oklahoma (Sept. 2) ... Gilliland's 17 kills versus the Sooners were a career-high, and one of six times she has blasted double figure kills so far this season ... Last season, Gilliland ranked first in the MAC and 49th nationally with a .366 hitting mark.

• Ball State continues to be one of the nation's top offenses, ranking 14th nationally with 966 total kills ... Five Cardinals have over 100 kills so far this season, led by 183 from Marie Plitt ... In addition, six players are averaging at least 2.00 kills per set, while the team ranks 60th nationally with a .245 attack percentage.

Volleyball Travels To NIU For Pivotal MAC West Showdown

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Players Mentioned

Havyn Gates

Lauren Gilliland

Maggie Huber

Marie Plitt

Cait Snyder

Megan Wielonski