Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Opens Three-Match Homestand Thursday vs. Akron
October 11, 2023 | Women's Volleyball
| Ball State (9-8; 6-0 MAC) hosts Akron / Toledo | |
| Match 19 - hosts Akron (10-7; 5-1 MAC) | Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6 p.m. ET ESPN+ | SL Digital Radio | Live Stats PROMOTIONS: Muncie Community School Night: Any Muncie Community School member can show their ID and receive a $5 ticket to Thursday's match |
| Match 20 - hosts Akron (10-7; 5-1 MAC) | Friday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m. ET ESPN+ | SL Digital Radio | Live Stats PROMOTIONS: Dig Pink: The Ball State women's volleyball program hosts its annual Dig Pink match to help support the fight against breast cancer. |
| Match 21 - hosts Toledo (7-10; 5-1 MAC) | Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 6 p.m. ET ESPN+ | SL Digital Radio | Live Stats |
| Notes | Ball State | Akron | Toledo |
| Social Media | X (Twitter) | Instagram |
THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL: The Ball State women's volleyball team opens a three-match homestand Thursday when it welcomes Akron to Worthen Arena for the first of back-to-back meetings between the two programs ... The Cardinals and Zips will also play again Friday, while BSU welcomes Toledo to its home floor Tuesday ... First serve for all three matches is set for 6 p.m.
FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans unable to make their way to Worthen Arena can still watch the action live, as all three contests will be broadcast on ESPN+ ... In addition, SL Digital will be on hand for the internet radio call, while live stats will be provided by Ball State Athletics ... Updates from the matches will also be provided on the team's X feed and Instagram story: @BallStateWVB.
BALL STATE ALL-TIME: After running its winning streak to seven matches with road wins at Miami and Bowling Green last weekend, Ball State enters Thursday's match versus Akron with an 1,004-641-2 (.610) all-time record in women's volleyball ... Thanks to its 3-0 sweep of Central Michigan on Sept. 22, Ball State became just the 44th program in NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball history to reach 1,000 wins ... All-time, the Cardinals have captured 12 MAC West Division Championships, 10 MAC Regular Season Championships and eight MAC Volleyball Championship titles ... Ball State has made 11 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including three of the last four seasons ... BSU has also earned one bid into the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC).
IN #MACTION: With a 6-0 MAC record so far this season, Ball State maintains its status as the winningest program in league play with a 439-215 (.671) all-time Mid-American Conference mark ... Western Michigan is second on the list, seven matches behind the Cardinals at 432-222 (.661) ... Akron enters the week ranked ninth based on winning percentage at 198-331 (.374), while Toledo is 11th at 209-444 (.320).
THE WORTHEN FACTOR: The Cardinals own an even better record when playing at home, boasting a 311-96 (.764) all-time mark inside Worthen Arena ... Looking at just opponents from the MAC, Ball State is 228-58 (.797) when battling in Worthen Arena ... Overall, 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 ... Akron is 1-20 (.048) all-time in Muncie, while Toledo is 3-27 (.100).
THE ALL-TIME SERIES VS AKRON: Ball State holds a 39-5 advantage in the all-time series versus Akron including four straight wins ... Last season, the Cardinals tallied a 3-1 (25-14, 24-26, 25-9, 25-11) victory over the Zips in Worthen Arena on Oct. 7 ... The effort helped Ball State improve to 20-1 all-time versus Akron at home, including nine straight wins ... The Zips lone win in Muncie was a 3-2 (25-21, 19-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-13) victory on Nov. 9, 2008
THE ALL-TIME SERIES VS TOLEDO: Ball State maintains a commanding 73-11 advantage in the all-time series versus Toledo including five straight wins ... Last season, the Cardinals picked up a 3-1 (25-21, 25-16, 22-25, 25-22) road victory Oct. 19 and closed the regular season with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-16) sweep at home Nov. 16 ... Ball State hold a 35-4 lead in matches played in Muncie, including a 27-3 mark in Worthen Arena ... Toledo's last road win in the series was a 3-1 (17-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-18) victory Sept. 29, 2016.
SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• Ball State has opened league play with six consecutive wins, raising its overall record to 9-8 (6-0 MAC) ... The Cardinals started the year with a tough pre-conference slate which ended with a 3-0 sweep of East Tennessee State (Sept. 16) to set up the program's current seven-match winning streak ... The win over the Bucs snapped a seven-match losing streak in which the Cardinals battled some of the nation's top teams, including two programs (No. 17 Creighton and No. 18 Dayton) currently inside the Top 25 of the AVCA/Taraflex Coaches Poll.
• Ball State enters the week as one of the nation's top blocking programs, ranking first in the MAC and 57th nationally with a 2.42 blocks-per-set average ... Freshman middle Camryn Wise has played a large role in those numbers over the last four weeks, averaging 1.52 blocks per set ... Sophomore opposite Madison Buckley has also helped, climbing to fourth in the MAC with a 0.92 blocks-per-set average.
• On the attacking front, redshirt freshman outside Aniya Kennedy leads the squad and is third in the league with a 3.57 kills-per-set average ... Fifth-year middle Marie Plitt is BSU's top attacker by percentage, boasting a .369 hitting percentage which is second in the league.
SCOUTING AKRON:
• The Zips enter the week with a 10-7 (5-1 MAC) record including a 3-0 win over EMU (Oct. 5) and a 3-2 win versus CMU (Oct. 6) last week ... Akron has been on a hot streak as of late, winning seven of its last 10 matches.
• Akron enters the week as one of the nation's top serving teams, leading the MAC and ranking fifth nationally at 2.30 aces per set ... Eliska Vytiskova's 39 aces are third nationally, while Vanessa Del Real's 34 are 17th ... Overall, Akron has served up 159 aces on the year, 20 more than any other MAC team.
• The Zips' offense is in the middle of the pack in the MAC, ranking sixth in the league with a .210 hitting percentage ... Faith Johnson leads the squad with a 3.51 kills-per-set average.
SCOUTING TOLEDO:
• The Rockets enter a weekend series at Buffalo with a 7-10 (5-1 MAC) record ... Last week, Toledo earned a 3-0 win at Miami (Oct. 5) and a 3-2 victory at Bowling Green (Oct. 6) ... UT's lone league loss came at Central Michigan on Oct. 1.
• Toledo is the league's top defensive team, ranking first in the MAC and 43rd nationally with a 15.83 digs-per-set average ... Ryann Jaqua is one of the nation's top liberos, averaging 5.05 blocks per set to pace the league and rank 21st nationally ... The Rockets also rank second in the MAC with a 2.09 blocks-per-set average.
• On offense, Toledo is 10th in the league with a .200 hitting percentage ... Taylor Alt is one of the nation's top attackers, ranking second in the league and 52nd nationally at 3.85 kills per set.
BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• Ball State made a brief stop at home versus Central Michigan Sept. 21-22, improving to 30-3 in Worthen Arena over the past three seasons (Fall 2021-2023) ... BSU has won its last 20 MAC regular season home matches, with its last regular season MAC home loss coming to Central Michigan on March 20, 2021.
• Marie Plitt has picked up right where she left off last season, leading the squad and ranking 63rd nationally with a .369 (142-21-328) attack percentage this season ... Her best effort came in the win over Purdue Fort Wayne (Aug. 26) when she smashed 10 kills on 12 swings with one error for a .750 attacking mark ... Plitt also hit .688 in the Sept. 21 win over Central Michigan and has hit .500-or-better in 32 career matches ... In BSU's first six MAC matches this season, Plitt is hitting .466 (59-5-116) and averaging 2.95 kills per set.
• Marie Plitt enters Thursday's match vs. Akron ranked third on Ball State's all-time list with a .355 career hitting percentage ... Plitt has steadily improved each year, hitting .295 as a freshman, .316 as a sophomore, .360 as a junior and a Ball State single season record .404 last year ... She is the first player in program history to hit .400-or-above in a single season ... Ball State's career record for attack percentage is .360 set by Julie Zilka from 1998-2001.
• Marie Plitt, who became Ball State's all-time leader in sets played at Eastern Michigan (Sept. 30), became the 13th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills with her first of 10 markers in last season's NCAA Tournament opening round match at No. 16 Marquette ... With 1151 career kills, Plitt currently ranks 10th in program history and needs 49 more to pass Julie Zylka's (1998-2001) total of 1,199 for ninth.
• Marie Plitt has also made her presence felt at the net over her career, ranking fifth in program history with 388 career blocks ... She is tied for fifth on Ball State's all-time charts with 313 career block assists, while ranking 10th all-time with 75 solo blocks ... Plitt's average of 0.88 blocks-per-set so far this season is her best since averaging 1.05 during the 2021 spring COVID season.
• Fifth-year defensive specialist Havyn Gates has served as starting libero in 16 of Ball State's 17 matches this season, and has now started in the off-colored jersey 21 times in her Ball State career ... She was credited with a season-high 26 digs in the near upset at then-No. 20 Creighton (Sept. 1) and followed with 22 versus UNI (Sept. 2), giving her 26 career matches with 20-or-more digs ... Gates' Ball State career-high is 33 digs in the five-set thriller at Central Michigan (Sept. 24, 2022) ... Gates, who registered 42 digs in a match as a freshman at Indiana Wesleyan in 2019, has 1,990 career digs including 866 in her three seasons at BSU and 1,124 over her two-year career at IWU.
• Megan Wielonski, who currently ranks seventh in program history with 3,348 career assists, has proven to be one of the nation's elite setters ... In fact, her 3,348 career assists currently rank 18th among all active NCAA Division I players ... As a freshman, she finished the 2021 season ranked second nationally with 1,394 total assists ... Her sophomore campaign ended with her ranked fourth nationally with 1,358 total assists in 2022 ... 17 matches into the 2023 season and Wielonski is 68th nationally with 595 total assists.
• In addition to being one of the nation's top setters, Megan Wielonski is one of the country's top servers with 126 career aces ... The total currently ranks ninth in program history ... As a freshman, 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 ... Last season, she ranked 55th nationally with 46 service aces, while she has a team-leading 22 aces so far this season.
• Madison Buckley has made a big impact so far this season, ranking second on the squad with a 2.53 kills-per-set average ... Her biggest match so far came at then-No. 20 Creighton (Sept. 1) when she smashed a career-high 14 kills, a mark she later tied versus UIC (Sept. 9) ... Buckley has also made her presence felt at the net, ranking fourth in the MAC with a 0.93 blocks-per-set average ... She has a team-best 56 total blocks this season, including two solo blocks and 54 block assists.
• Aniya Kennedy enters Thursday's match versus Akron ranked third in the MAC with her team-leading 3.57 kills-per-set average ... She has smashed double-digit kills in 11 matches, while leading the team in kills in 10 outings ... Last weekend, Kennedy smashed career-high kill totals in back-to-back matches, helping her claim her second MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week honor this season ... She started with 17 kills in the four-set win over Miami (Oct. 6) and followed with 21 kills at Bowling Green (Oct. 7) ... The 21 kills tie as the 10th-most by a MAC player in a match this season, and are the second-most by a league player in a four set contest.
• Freshman Camryn Wise has found a home in the middle of the court over the last four weeks, boasting a team-leading 1.52 blocks-per-set average ... She has registered at least two blocks in all eight matches she has played, while tallying a career-high eight total blocks in the Sept. 22 sweep of Central Michigan ... Wise has also aided from the attack line, with 23 kills and a .326 hitting percentage.
• Ball State currently ranks third in the MAC and 83rd nationally with a 15.12 digs-per-set average, led by Havyn Gates at 4.08.
