Ball State University
Ohio State University
Men's Volleyball Plays An Away and Home Series Against Rival Ohio State This Week
March 15, 2022 | Men's Volleyball
No. 8 Ball State vs. Ohio State | March 19 | Muncie, Ind. | 7 pm ET | Watch | Live Stats
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NEW ERA: First-year head coach Donan Cruz has started the year off strong so far this season leading the Cardinals to five-straight wins which includes back--to-back victories over No. 1 Hawai'i… Prior to taking over the helm of the Cardinals, Cruz was a four-time National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Coach of the Year at Grand View University … Just the fourth head coach in the storied history of Ball State men's volleyball, Cruz led the inaugural Grand View men's team to a 13-13 mark in 2012 season, on his way to compiling a 211-55 overall record with the Vikings … He concluded his Grand View career with the best winning percentage in NAIA men's volleyball history at .793.
ALSO NEW ON THE STAFF: Joining Cruz on the Ball State staff are Midwestern Volleyball Association (MIVA) standout and former Lewis University star Mike Iandolo and BYU men's volleyball alumnus Christian Rupert … Iandolo was a two-time All-MIVA First Team selection and spent the last three season as the head coach at the University of Charleston … Rupert helped lead the Cougars to a pair of appearances NCAA Division I/II Men's Volleyball Championship Match, and following a brief professional career, spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant at Princeton.
SCOUTINGÂ OHIO STATE: The Cardinals face their longest rival to date on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio at 7 pm ET at the Covelli Center. Ohio State enters the contest with a 9-9 overall record and a 3-3 Mid-Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Association record while the Cardinals are still ranked No. 8 in the nation while owning a 13-2 overall mark and a 5-1 MIVA ledger. The Buckeyes and Cardinals have met 189 times since Feb. 17, 1968 with the Buckeyes owning a 101-88 advantage. The teams met three times in 2021, with each team winning away from home (3-2) during the regular season and then Ball State winning 3-1 in the MIVA quarterfinals in Worthen Arena. The Buckeyes are led offensively by Jacob Pasteur with 251 kills. Ohio State has lost its last three contests.
IN THE NATION: The Cardinals sits at No. 8 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll despite winning two on the road last week. The highest Ball State has ever been ranked was No. 5 and that was in the final poll in 1995. Graduate senior setter Quinn Isaacson still ranks first in the nation among his setting peers with 11.77 assists per set while Ball State as a team also holds the top spot for that same category (13.05). Senior middle blocker Felix Egharevba is second in the nation in blocks per set (1.447) and Kaleb Jenness is third in attacks per set (9.22) and second in kills per set (4.92).
CARDINAL RECAP: Ball State is coming off of a 2-0 weekend after spending its spring break on the east coast. The Cardinals took down NJIT by a score of 3-1 on Friday, March 11 before closing out play in New Jersey at Princeton as Ball State earned the 3-0 sweep over the Tigers on Saturday, March 12. At NJIT, Angelos Mandilaris tallied a 21-kill performance while Kaleb Jenness led BSU offensively at Princeton with 14 kills.
