Volleyball Heads To Ohio For Final Regular Season Road Trip

Ball State (21-6; 13-2 MAC) at Ohio (13-11; 4-9 MAC)
Match 28 at Ohio	Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. Live Stats \| ESPN+ \| Tickets
Match 29 at Ohio	Friday, Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. Live Stats \| ESPN+ \| Tickets
Notes	Ball State \| Ohio
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram

UP THIS WEEK: The Ball State women's volleyball team embarks on its final road trip of the 2022 regular season this weekend with a pair of matches at Ohio ... The Cardinals and Bobcats are set to square off at 7 p.m. Friday and 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Convocation Center.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Both matches at Ohio will be streamed live on ESPN+ ... In addition, live stats will be available courtesy of Ohio Athletics ... Live updates from the matches will also be provided on the team's Twitter feed: @BallStateWVB.

WHERE WE STAND: With three matches remaining in the regular season, the Cardinals enter the week in first place in the Mid-American Conference with a 13-2 league record ... Ball State holds a one-match lead and the current tiebreaker over Bowling Green (12-3) and a two-match edge over this weekend's opponent Ohio (11-4) ... Ball State clinched the 2022 MAC West Division Championship last Friday, and could earn at least a share of the MAC Regular Season Championship and hosting rights to the 2022 MAC Volleyball Championship as early as Friday depending on results ... The other teams currently in the six-team MAC Tournament field are Toledo (9-6), Buffalo (9-6), and Central Michigan (9-6).

THE ALL-TIME SERIES: Ball State holds a 41-20 lead in the all-time series versus Ohio, including a pair of wins last season ... The first meeting was a five-set thriller on Sept. 30, 2021, with the Cardinals ultimately winning 3-2 (25-19, 22-25, 20-25, 25-20, 16-14) in Worthen Arena after trailing 14-12 in the fifth ... The next day, Ball State was firing on all cylinders, earning a 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-15) sweep thanks in part to a .388 attack percentage ... Ball State is 19-8 all-time in matches played in Athens, including a split of the spring 2021 matches played in the Convocation Center ... BSU won the first match by a score of 3-2 (25-17, 21-25, 25-13, 28-26, 15-11) on March 4, while Ohio snapped a five-match losing streak to the Cardinals the next day with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 26-24) victory ... Overall, Ball State has won even of the last eight meetings between the two programs.

BALL STATE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL QUICK HITS:
• In its 51st season of play, Ball State boasts a 992-630-2 (.611) all-time record in women's volleyball ... The Cardinals have captured 12 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 at Ohio as the winningest program in league play with a 431-214 (.668) all-time Mid-American Conference record ... Western Michigan is second on the list, six matches behind the Cardinals at 425-220 (.659) ... Ohio is sixth all-time based on winning percentage at 367-276 (.571).

• The Cardinals own an even better record when playing at home, boasting a 305-94 (.764) mark inside Worthen Arena ... Factor in opponents from just the Mid-American Conference and Ball State is 224-57 (.797) 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.

• Speaking of wins, Ball State enters Friday's match at Ohio with the longest active winning streak in the MAC at 13 matches ... It also ties as the eighth-longest active winning streak among all NCAA Division I programs.

• Overall, Ball State's backcourt enters the week as one of the nation's best, ranking first in the MAC and fourth nationally with a 17.70 digs-per-set average ... Only Tulsa (18.52), McNeese (18.44), and Loyola Maryland (17.80) have better averages ... In addition, the Cardinals' 1,823 total digs are sixth nationally, trailing McNeese (2,102), Chattanooga (1,919), VCU (1,869), SEMO (1,864), and Valparaiso (1,852).

• Three Ball State student-athletes rank in the top 275 nationally in total digs, led by senior libero Maggie Huber in 49th at 444 ... Sophomore setter Megan Wielonski is second on the squad and 214th nationally at 327, while senior outside Natalie Risi is 273rd at 297 ... Ball State has five regulars averaging at least 2.32 digs per set, led by Huber at 4.31.

• In addition to leading the team with a 4.31 digs-per-set average, Maggie Huber has started 22 of BSU's 27 matches at libero ... She has collected double-digit digs in 24 matches, including a season-high 30 in the Oct. 14 win at NIU ... Three matches later, she added 29 digs in the Oct. 21 win over Western Michigan ... Huber also leads Ball State's primary passers with a .953 reception percentage, with just 22 reception errors in 470 total attempts.

• Havyn Gates served as BSU's starting libero in the other five matches and owns three of BSU's six 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 42 digs in a match as a freshman at Indiana Wesleyan in 2019, has 1,706 career digs including 582 at BSU and 1,124 at IWU.

• On offensive, senior middle Marie Plitt enters the week ranked first in the MAC and 15th nationally with a .403 (263-36-563) 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 21 of BSU's 27 matches, including a .467 (8-1-15) effort at No. 10 Purdue (Sept. 17) ... Plitt also enters the week ranked second on the squad with a 2.55 kills-per-set average, including double-digit kills in 13 matches.

• Senior outside Natalie Risi is not far behind, ranking third on the squad with a 2.43 kills-per-set average ... Risi has smashed double-digit kills in a team-high 14 matches this season, including eight of the last 13 outings ... Risi has also collected 11 kill/dig double-doubles on the year and ranks third on the squad with a 2.88 digs-per-set average.

• Natalie Risi became just the 18th player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs with her third of 10 digs in the Sept. 3 match versus Mississippi State ... She currently ranks 11th in program history with 1,237 digs ... Risi also ranks 18th in program history with 891 career kills and needs 109 more to become only the sixth player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs.

• Speaking of 1,000 career kills, senior opposite Natalie Mitchem became just the 12th player in program history to eclipse that mark with her third of a team-high 12 kills in last Friday's sweep of Kent State ... She enters this weekend's series at Ohio ranked 12th in program history with 1,009 career kills, including double-digit kills in 50 career matches.

• Marie Plitt is also within striking distance of 1,000 career kills ranking 13th in program history with 935 ... She also boasts one of the top attack percentages on Ball State's career list, with her .349 mark ranking third all-time.

• Megan Wielonski continues to be one of the nation's elite setters, entering the weekend ranked fourth nationally with 1,119 total assists ... She is also 18th nationally with her 10.86 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 in 17 of her 61 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 2,513 career assists currently rank 11th 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 week ranked 32nd nationally with 42 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, 2021) ... 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, Wielonski is one of only 20 players in program history to serve up 100 career aces.

• With double-digit kills in 10 of the last 11 matches, including a career-high 19 at Toledo (Oct. 19), Cait Snyder enters the weekend with a team-leading 3.23 kills-per-set average ... In MAC play, Snyder is averaging 3.64 kills-per-set which is third among all league players ... Snyder has led the Ball State offense in kills in nine of the last 13 matches, and a team-high 11 times so far this season.

• Ball State continues to be one of the nation's top offenses, ranking seventh in total kills (1,439) and ninth in total assists (1,323) ... In addition, the Cardinals have the 32nd-best team attack percentage among the 334 ranked NCAA Division I programs at .260.

• The Cardinals have hit .300-or-better in eight matches this season and are a perfect 20-0 when out-hitting opponents.

Volleyball Heads To Ohio For Final Regular Season Road Trip

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Players Mentioned

Havyn Gates

Maggie Huber

Natalie Mitchem

Marie Plitt

Natalie Risi

Cait Snyder

Megan Wielonski