Ball State University
Kent State
Volleyball Hosts Kent State & Ohio This Weekend
October 26, 2023 | Women's Volleyball
| Ball State (12-10; 9-2 MAC) hosts Kent State | hosts Ohio | |
| Match 23 - hosts Kent State (5-17; 1-10 MAC) | Friday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. ET ESPN+ |  SL Digital Radio  |  Live Stats PROMOTIONS: Alumni Night - Cardinals will recognize all Ball State women's volleyball alumni in attendance |
| Match 24 - hosts Ohio (12-11; 7-4 MAC) | Saturday, Oct. 28 at 4 p.m. ET ESPN+ |  SL Digital Radio  |  Live Stats PROMOTIONS: Chirp or Treat - $5 match tickets and Trick or Treating around the concourse starting at 3 p.m., sponsored by Ball State SAAC with support from Texas Roadhouse and Raising Cane's |
| Notes | Ball State |  Kent State  |  Ohio |
| Social Media | X (Twitter)Â | Â Instagram |
THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL:Â The Ball State women's volleyball team returns home this weekend to face its final two foes from the Mid-American Conference East Division with a Friday match up versus Kent State (6 p.m.) and a Saturday showdown with Ohio (4 p.m.).
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FOLLOW THE ACTION:Â Fans unable to make their way to Worthen Arena can still watch the action live, as both contests will be broadcast on ESPN+ ... In addition, 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.
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BALL STATE ALL-TIME:Â The Ball State enters Friday's match versus Kent State with a 1,007-643-2 (.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).
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IN #MACTION:Â With a 9-2 MAC record so far this season, Ball State maintains its status as the winningest program in league play with a 442-217 (.671) all-time Mid-American Conference mark ... Western Michigan is second on the list, five matches behind the Cardinals at 437-222 (.663) ... Kent State enters the week ranked 10th based on winning percentage at 241-418 (.366) while Ohio is sixth at .572 (376-281).
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THE WORTHEN FACTOR:Â 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.
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MORE FROM THE HOME FRONT:Â With the Oct. 17 sweep of 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.
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THE ALL-TIME SERIES VS KENT STATE:Â Ball State holds a 44-18 lead in the all-time series versus Kent State, including three straight wins ... Last season, the Cardinals hosted the Golden Flashes for a pair of matches with BSU earning a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-17) win Nov. 3 and a 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-18) victory Nov. 4 ... Overall, Ball State holds a 23-7 edge in matches played in Muncie and a 16-4 advantage in Worthen Arena ... KSU's last win in Muncie was a 3-1 (18-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-16) victory in the Jo Ann Gora Student Recreation and Wellness Center on March 12, 2021.
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THE ALL-TIME SERIES VS OHIO:Â Ball State holds a 42-21 lead in the all-time series versus Ohio, including a 3-1 (25-21, 14-25, 25-18, 25-21) victory in the latest meeting played Nov. 12, 2022, in Athens, Ohio ... The Bobcats picked up a 3-1 (25-21, 24-26, 25-15, 25-17) win one day earlier, also on its home court ... Overall, Ball State holds a 19-8 edge in matches played in Muncie and a 12-7 advantage in Worthen Arena .... Ohio's last win in Worthen was a 3-2 (25-11, 16-25, 20-25, 32-30, 15-11) thriller on Oct. 15, 2016.
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SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• Ball State enters the week with a 12-10 (9-2 MAC) record after seeing its 10-match winning streak snapped last weekend with a pair of five-set losses at Buffalo ... The Cardinals played one of the league's toughest non-conference slates, including three programs (No. 17 Creighton, No. 18 Dayton and No. 23 Western Kentucky) currently ranked inside the Top 25 of the AVCA/Taraflex Coaches Poll.Â
• Ball State enters the weekend as one of the nation's top blocking programs, ranking first in the MAC and 63rd nationally with a 2.41 blocks-per-set average ... Freshman middle Camryn Wise has played a large role in those numbers over the last six weeks, averaging a league-best 1.33 blocks per set ... Wise, who has played in 56.3% (45 of 80) of Ball State's sets this season, would rank 25th nationally were she to reach the 66.7% of sets played threshold required to be included in the NCAA rankings.
• On the attacking front, redshirt freshman outside Aniya Kennedy leads the squad, is second in the league and ranks 45th nationally with a 3.93 kills-per-set average ... Fifth-year middle Marie Plitt is BSU's top attacker by percentage, boasting a .381 hitting percentage which is second in the league and 39th nationally.
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SCOUTING KENT STATE:
• The Golden Flashes enter the weekend with a 5-17 (1-10 MAC) record ... KSU has lost three straight, including dropping a pair of 3-0 contests at Bowling Green last weekend.
• The Kent State offense features the league's current top attacker with Mackenzie McGuire leading the MAC and ranked 39th nationally with a 3.99 kills-per-set average, while her 10.53 attack per set is 58th in the nation.
• On the defensive front, the Golden Flashes rank sixth in the MAC and 142nd nationally with 14.51 digs per set, led by Bryn Roberts who is 94th nationally at 4.21 ... KSU is also fifth in the league at 1.53 aces per set, led by Kiana Mack at 0.41.
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SCOUTING OHIO:
• The Bobcats enter a Friday match at Toledo with a 12-11 (7-4 MAC) record ... Ohio is coming off a two-match sweep at Miami last weekend, picking up a pair of 3-0 victories ... The Bobcats are also the only MAC team to take a set off league-leading Western Michigan (11-0 MAC) this season, pushing the Broncos to five sets on Oct. 6.
• Caitlin O'Farrell leads the Ohio attack, ranking fifth in the MAC and 108th nationally with at 3.49 kills per set ... She is also one of the league's top attackers by percentage, hitting .335 to rank fourth in the MAC and 123rd nationally ... Overall, the Bobcats rank third in the MAC and 53rd among all NCAA Division I programs with 13.31 kills per set.
• In the backcourt, Sam Steele is sixth in the league at 4.11 digs per set, while also ranking sixth from the service line with 34 total aces ... However, as a squad Ohio is 12th in the league at 1.22 aces per set.
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BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• Marie Plitt currently leads the squad and ranks 39th nationally with a .381 (201-30-449) 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 11 MAC matches this season, Plitt is hitting .439 (118-14-237) and averaging 2.95 kills per set.
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• Marie Plitt enters Friday's match vs. Kent State 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.
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• 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 1210 career kills, Plitt currently ranks ninth in program history and needs 25 more to pass Julie Breivogel's (2006-2009) total of 1,234 for eighth.
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• Marie Plitt has also made her presence felt at the net over her career, ranking fifth in program history with 404 career blocks ... She is fifth on Ball State's all-time charts with 325 career block assists, while ranking ninth with 79 solo blocks ... Plitt's average of  0.83 blocks-per-set so far this season is her best since averaging 1.05 during the 2021 spring COVID season.
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• Fifth-year defensive specialist Havyn Gates has served as starting libero in 21 of Ball State's 22 matches this season, and has now started in the off-colored jersey 26 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) ... Add 20 digs at Buffalo (Oct. 21) and Gates has 27 career matches with 20-or-more digs ... Gates earned a Ball State career-high 33 digs in the five-set thriller at Central Michigan (Sept. 24, 2022), while registering 42 digs in a match as a freshman at Indiana Wesleyan in 2019 ... She has 2,065 career digs including 941 in her three seasons at BSU and 1,124 over her two-year career at IWU.
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• Megan Wielonski, who currently ranks sixth in program history with 3,560 career assists, has proven to be one of the nation's elite setters ... In fact, her 3,560 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 ... 22 matches into the 2023 season and Wielonski is 36th nationally with 807 total assists.Â
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• In addition to being one of the nation's top setters, Megan Wielonski is one of the country's top servers with 131 career aces ... The total currently ranks 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 27 aces so far this season.Â
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• Aniya Kennedy enters Friday's match vs. Kent State ranked second in the MAC with her team-leading 3.93 kills-per-set average, while her 4.58 kills-per-set average in league play is tops in the conference ... She has smashed double-digit kills in 16 matches, while leading the team in kills in 15 outings ... In BSU'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.
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 • 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 (2017-20) 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.
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• Madison Buckley has also made a big impact, ranking third 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 sixth in the MAC with a 0.94 blocks-per-set average ... She has a team-best 75 total blocks this season, including five solo blocks and 70 block assists.
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• Freshman Camryn Wise has found a home in the middle of the court over the last six weeks, boasting a team and MAC-leading 1.33 blocks-per-set average ... She has registered at least two blocks in all 13 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 45 kills and a .344 hitting percentage, boasting a career-high 11 kills last time out at Buffalo (Oct. 21)
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• Ball State currently ranks fourth in the MAC and 80th nationally with a 15.21 digs-per-set average ... Havyn Gates leads the squad and is seventh in the MAC with her 4.00 digs-per-set average ... Megan Wielonski is not far behind, ranking second on the team at 2.59 digs per set.Â
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• 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 2.03 digs-per-set average and became the third Cardinal to register 20+ digs in a match this season, joining Havyn Gates and Megan Wielonski.
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• Both Megan Wielonski and Havyn Gates are approaching 1,000 career digs as Cardinals, with Gates entering the weekend at 941 and Wielonski at 932 ... Only 19 players in program history have reached 1,000 career digs, with the record being 2,273 set by Stephanie Keller (2001-04).
