Volleyball Battles WMU For MAC Lead This Weekend

Ball State (14-10; 11-2 MAC) at Western Michigan (23-2; 13-0 MAC)
Match 25 - at Western Michigan	Friday, Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. ET ESPN+ \| Live Stats
Match 26 - at Western Michigan	Saturday, Nov. 4 at 3 p.m. ET ESPN+ \| Live Stats
Notes	Ball State \| Western Michigan
Social Media	X (Twitter) \| Instagram

THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL: It will be a battle of the top two teams in the Mid-American Conference this weekend as Ball State (11-2 MAC) travels to Western Michigan (13-0 MAC) for a key league series ... The teams are slated to play at 6 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday at University Arena.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans unable to make their way to WMU's University Arena can still watch the action live, as both contests will be broadcast on ESPN+ ... In addition, live stats will be provided by Western Michigan Athletics ... Updates from the matches will also be provided on the team's X feed and Instagram story: @BallStateWVB.

WHERE THINGS STAND: With five matches remaining in MAC play, Ball State (11-2 MAC) is currently two matches behind Western Michigan (13-0 MAC) for the top spot in the league standings ... The regular season champion earns hosting rights to the six-team 2023 MAC Volleyball Championship slated to be played between Nov. 18-22 with dates set by the host institution ... Buffalo (10-3) is currently third, while Ohio (8-5 MAC) and Toledo (8-5 MAC) are tied for fourth ... The Bobcats hold the tiebreaker by virtue of a head-to-head victory last Friday ... There is currently a four-team tie for the sixth and final spot, with Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Akron and Northern Illinois all holding 6-7 league records.

BALL STATE ALL-TIME: The Ball State enters Friday's match at Western Michigan with a 1,009-643-2 (.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 an 11-2 MAC record so far this season, Ball State maintains its status as the winningest program in league play with a 444-217 (.672) all-time Mid-American Conference mark ... Western Michigan is second on the list, five matches behind the Cardinals at 439-222 (.664).

THE WORTHEN FACTOR: The Cardinals own an even better record when playing at home, boasting a 316-96 (.767) all-time mark inside Worthen Arena ... Looking at just opponents from the MAC, Ball State is 233-58 (.801) when battling in Worthen Arena ... Overall, no MAC opponent owns a winning record inside Worthen Arena, as the Cardinals have at least a .650 winning percentage against all league schools on its current home floor.

MORE FROM THE HOME FRONT: With last weekend's wins over Kent State (Oct. 27) and Ohio (Oct. 28), Ball State improved to 35-3 in Worthen Arena over the past three seasons (Fall 2021-2023) ... BSU has won its last 25 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 WESTERN MICHIGAN: Ball State holds a 55-48 lead in the all-time series with Western Michigan including five straight wins ... The last three meetings have been 3-1 victories in Worthen Arena, with the latest played Oct. 22, 2022 ... Ball State has also won the last two matches played in Kalamazoo, sweeping both meetings during the 2021 fall season played Oct. 22 and Oct. 23 ... Overall, WMU does hold a slim 24-21 lead in matches played on its home court.

SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• Ball State enters the week with a 14-10 (11-2 MAC) record after sweeping Kent State (Oct. 27) and topping Ohio (Oct. 28) by a score of 3-1 last week ... It was a solid rebound after seeing its 10-match losing streak snapped with a pair of five-set losses at Buffalo (Oct. 20 & 21) ... 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.
• Ball State enters the weekend as one of the nation's top blocking programs, ranking first in the MAC and 74th nationally with a 2.36 blocks-per-set average ... Freshman middle Camryn Wise has played a large role in those numbers over the last seven weeks, averaging a league-best 1.33 blocks per set ... Wise, who has played in 59.8% (52 of 87) of Ball State's sets this season, would rank 22nd 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 third in the league and ranks 43rd nationally with a 3.95 kills-per-set average ... Fifth-year middle Marie Plitt is BSU's top attacker by percentage, boasting a .393 hitting percentage which is second in the league and 32nd nationally.

SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN:
• The Broncos enter the weekend with a 23-2 (13-0 MAC) record and riding a 13-match winning streak ... WMU has only dropped four sets in league play, including 3-1 home wins over Buffalo (Oct. 27) and Akron (Oct. 28) last weekend ... Western Michigan was the fourth team in the Alyssa Cavanaugh Classic, which also featured Ball State, with their last loss of the season coming in the form of a 3-1 setback to host Western Kentucky (Sept. 16)
• Western Michigan features one of the nation's top attacking units, with the squad ranking first in the MAC and 24th nationally with a .268 hitting percentage ... The effort is led by setter Logan Case who is first in the MAC and third nationally with 11.77 assists per set.
• WMU also has one of the nation's stingiest defenses, ranking first in the MAC and 66th nationally with a .179 opponent hitting percentage ... The Broncos lead the league and are 43rd nationally at 15.98 dig per set ... Andelyn Simkins leads the backcourt at 4.88 digs per set, which is second in the league and 27th among all NCAA Division I players.

BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• Marie Plitt currently leads the squad and ranks 32nd nationally with a .393 (226-32-494) attack percentage ... 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 .722 (13-0-18) in last Friday's win over Kent State (Oct. 27) and .688 (11-0-16) in the win over Central Michigan (Sept. 21) ... She has hit .500-or-better in 34 career matches ... In BSU's first 13 MAC matches this season, Plitt is hitting a league-best .450 (143-16-282) and averaging 3.04 kills per set.

• Marie Plitt enters Friday's match at Western Michigan tied with Julie Zilka (1998-2001) atop Ball State's all-time list with a .360 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.

• 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 1235 career kills, Plitt currently ranks eighth in program history and needs 12 more to pass Kelly Cochran's (2003-2006) total of 1,246 for seventh.

• Marie Plitt has also made her presence felt at the net over her career, ranking fifth in program history with 406 career blocks ... She is fifth on Ball State's all-time charts with 326 career block assists, while ranking ninth with 80 solo blocks.

• Fifth-year defensive specialist Havyn Gates has served as starting libero in 23 of Ball State's 24 matches this season, and has now started in the off-colored jersey 28 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 2,090 career digs including 966 in her three seasons at BSU and 1,124 over her two-year career at IWU.

• Megan Wielonski, who currently ranks sixth in program history with 3,646 career assists, has proven to be one of the nation's elite setters ... In fact, her 3,646 career assists currently rank 17th 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 ... 24 matches into the 2023 season and Wielonski is 31st nationally with 893 total assists.

• In addition to being one of the nation's top setters, Megan Wielonski is one of the country's top servers with 132 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 28 aces so far this season.

• Aniya Kennedy enters Friday's match at Western Michigan ranked third in the MAC with her team-leading 3.95 kills-per-set average, while her 4.51 kills-per-set average in league play is tops in the conference ... She has smashed double-digit kills in 18 matches, while leading the team in kills in 16 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.

• 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 fourth-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 third on the squad with a 2.47 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 fifth in the MAC with a 0.91 blocks-per-set average ... She has a team-best 79 total blocks this season, including five solo blocks and 74 block assists.

• Freshman Camryn Wise has found a home in the middle of the court over the last seven weeks, boasting a team and MAC-leading 1.33 blocks-per-set average ... She has registered at least two blocks in 14 of the 15 matches she has played, while tallying a career-high nine total blocks in four-set wins over Akron (Oct. 14) and Ohio (Oct. 28) ... Wise has also aided from the attack line, with 60 kills and a .379 hitting percentage, boasting a career-high 11 kills last at Buffalo (Oct. 21).

• Ball State currently ranks fourth in the MAC and 82nd nationally with a 15.16 digs-per-set average ... Havyn Gates leads the squad and is seventh in the MAC with her 3.97 digs-per-set average ... Megan Wielonski is not far behind, ranking second on the team at 2.53 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 152 total digs 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 Gates entering the weekend at 965 and Wielonski at 945 ... Only 19 players in program history have reached 1,000 career digs, with the record being 2,273 set by Stephanie Keller (2001-04).

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Players Mentioned

Madison Buckley

Paige Busick

Havyn Gates

Aniya Kennedy

Marie Plitt

Natalie Risi

Megan Wielonski

Camryn Wise