Volleyball Visits MAC East Leader Buffalo This Weekend

Ball State (12-8; 9-0 MAC) at Buffalo (17-4; 7-2 MAC)
Match 21 - at Buffalo	Friday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. ET ESPN+ \| Live Stats
Match 22 - at Buffalo	Saturday, Oct. 21 at 4 p.m. ET ESPN+ \| Live Stats
Notes	Ball State \| Buffalo
Social Media	X (Twitter) \| Instagram

THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL: The Ball State women's volleyball team embarks on a key road trip this weekend as it travels to Buffalo for a pair of matches against the Mid-American Conference East Division leader ... The Cardinals, who are tied atop the overall league standings with Western Michigan, and Bulls will square off at 6 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday in UB's Alumni Arena.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans unable to make their way to Alumni Arena can still watch the action live, as both contests will be broadcast on ESPN+ ... In addition, live stats will be provided by host Buffalo ... 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 10 matches, Ball State enters Friday's match at Buffalo with a 1,007-641-2 (.611) 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 9-0 MAC record so far this season, Ball State maintains its status as the winningest program in league play with a 442-215 (.673) all-time Mid-American Conference mark ... Western Michigan is second on the list, seven matches behind the Cardinals at 435-222 (.662) ... Buffalo enters the week ranked 12th based on winning percentage at 111-318 (.259).

THE WORTHEN FACTOR: The Cardinals own an even better record when playing at home, boasting a 314-96 (.766) all-time mark inside Worthen Arena ... Looking at just opponents from the MAC, Ball State is 231-58 (.799) 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.

MORE FROM THE HOME FRONT: With Tuesday's sweep over Toledo, Ball State improved to 33-3 in Worthen Arena over the past three seasons (Fall 2021-2023) ... BSU has won its last 23 MAC regular season home matches, with its last regular season MAC home loss coming to Central Michigan on March 20, 2021.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES VS BUFFALO: Ball State holds a commanding 28-1 lead in the all-time series versus Buffalo, including a string of 14 straight wins ... Last season, the Cardinals earned a 3-1 (26-24, 19-25, 25-11, 25-21) home victory over the Bulls on Oct. 8, 2022 ... UB's lone win in the series was a 3-2 (28-26, 20-25, 25-19, 19-25, 15-13) victory on its home court Oct. 9, 2010 ... Ball State is 12-1 all-time in Buffalo, including seven straight wins in Alumni Arena.

SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• Ball State has opened league play with nine consecutive wins, raising its overall record to 12-8 (9-0 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 10-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 three programs (No. 16 Creighton, No. 16 Dayton and No. 25 Western Kentucky) currently inside the Top 25 of the AVCA/Taraflex Coaches Poll.
• Ball State enters the weekend as one of the nation's top blocking programs, ranking first in the MAC and 45th nationally with a 2.49 blocks-per-set average ... Freshman middle Camryn Wise has played a large role in those numbers over the last five weeks, averaging a league-best 1.49 blocks per set ... Wise, who has played in 50% (35 of 70) of Ball State's sets this season, would rank fifth nationally were she to reach the 66.7% of sets played threshold required to be included in the NCAA rankings ... Sophomore opposite Madison Buckley has also helped, ranking fourth in the MAC and 238th nationally with a 0.97 blocks-per-set average.
• On the attacking front, redshirt freshman outside Aniya Kennedy leads the squad, is third in the league and ranks 48th nationally with a 3.84 kills-per-set average ... Fifth-year middle Marie Plitt is BSU's top attacker by percentage, boasting a .384 hitting percentage which is second in the league and 40th nationally.

SCOUTING BUFFALO:
• The Bulls enter the weekend atop the MAC East Division with a 17-4 (7-2 MAC) record ... Buffalo split last weekend's two-match set at Toledo with each team picking up a 3-2 win ... UB went on to sweep Akron Tuesday to take sole possession of the division's top spot.
• Buffalo is one of the nation's top attacking teams by percentage, ranking second in the MAC and 30th among all NCAA Division I programs with a .263 hitting mark ... Leading the way is Courtney Okwara who is second nationally with a .473 mark ... Abby Leigh is not far behind, ranking third in the MAC and 63rd nationally at .365.
• UB is also a strong serving team, ranking 31st nationally at 1.85 aces per set ... Katrin Trebichavska leads the Bulls and is second nationally with 46 aces, while Abby Leigh is 95th nationally with 29.

BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• Marie Plitt currently leads the squad and ranks 40th nationally with a .384 (171-23-385) 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 33 career matches ... In BSU's first nine MAC matches this season, Plitt is hitting .468 (88-7-173) and averaging 2.93 kills per set.

• Marie Plitt enters Friday's match at Buffalo ranked third on Ball State's all-time list with a .357 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 (1998-2001), while Susie Meshberger (1999-2001) is second at .358.

• 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 1180 career kills, Plitt currently ranks 10th in program history and needs 20 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 397 career blocks ... She is fifth on Ball State's all-time charts with 320 career block assists, while ranking ninth with 77 solo blocks ... Plitt's average of 0.89 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 19 of Ball State's 20 matches this season, and has now started in the off-colored jersey 24 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 2,031 career digs including 907 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 3,455 career assists, has proven to be one of the nation's elite setters ... In fact, her 3,455 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 ... 20 matches into the 2023 season and Wielonski is 44th nationally with 702 total assists.

• In addition to being one of the nation's top setters, Megan Wielonski is one of the country's top servers with 129 career aces ... The total currently ties for seventh 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 25 aces so far this season.

• Aniya Kennedy enters Friday's match at Buffalo ranked third in the MAC with her team-leading 3.84 kills-per-set average, while her 4.60 kills-per-set average in league play is tops in the conference ... She has smashed double-digit kills in 14 matches, while leading the team in kills in 13 outings ... In last Friday's four-set win over Akron (Oct. 13), Kennedy was credited with a career-high 25 kills, marking the third time in four matches she set a new career standard for kills.

• In fact, Aniya Kennedy's 25 kills versus Akron (Oct. 13) were the most for a Ball State player in a match since Kia Holder logged 27 at Eastern Michigan on March 27, 2021 ... In addition, the total ties as the fourth-most by a MAC player in a match this season and is the second-best total by a league attacker in a four-set match ... Kennedy also owns the third-best total in a four-set match with her 21 kills at Bowling Green (Oct. 7) ... Kennedy is the first Ball State player to register multiple 20+ kill matches in the same season since Natalie Risi (2019-22) had two as a freshman in 2019.

• Madison Buckley has also made a big impact, ranking second on the squad with a 2.44 kills-per-set average ... Her biggest match came at then-No. 20 Creighton (Sept. 1) when she smashed a career-high 14 kills, a mark she tied versus UIC (Sept. 9) ... Buckley has also made her presence felt at the net, ranking fourth in the MAC with a 0.97 blocks-per-set average ... She has a team-best 68 total blocks this season, including five solo blocks and 63 block assists.

• Freshman Camryn Wise has found a home in the middle of the court over the last five weeks, boasting a team and MAC-leading 1.49 blocks-per-set average ... She has registered at least two blocks in all 11 matches she has played, while tallying a career-high nine total blocks in the Oct. 14 four-set win over Akron ... Wise has also aided from the attack line, with 31 kills and a .292 hitting percentage.

• Ball State currently ranks third in the MAC and 75th nationally with a 15.31 digs-per-set average ... Havyn Gates leads the squad and is seventh in the MAC with her 4.09 digs-per-set average ... Megan Wielonski is not far behind, ranking second on the team at 2.67 digs per set.

• Also aiding in Ball State's backcourt play has been sophomore defensive specialist Paige Busick who registered a career-high 21 digs in the four-set win over Akron (Oct. 13) ... She currently ranks third on the team with a 2.12 digs-per-set average and became the third Cardinal to register 20+ digs in a match this season, joining Havyn Gates and Megan Wielonski.

• Both Megan Wielonski and Havyn Gates are approaching 1,000 career digs as Cardinals, with Wielonski entering the weekend with 912 and Gates right behind at 907 ... Only 19 players in program history have reached 1,000 career digs, with the program record being 2,273 set by Stephanie Keller (2001-04).

Volleyball Visits MAC East Leader Buffalo This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Madison Buckley

Paige Busick

Havyn Gates

Aniya Kennedy

Marie Plitt

Natalie Risi

Megan Wielonski

Camryn Wise