Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
Toledo
Women's Volleyball Closes Regular Season Wednesday At Toledo
November 14, 2023 | Women's Volleyball
| Ball State (16-12; 13-4 MAC) at Toledo (12-16; 10-7 MAC) | |
| Match 29 - at Toledo | Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. ET ESPN+ | Live Stats |
| Notes | Ball State | Toledo |
| Social Media | X (Twitter) | Instagram |
THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL: The Ball State women's volleyball team closes the 2023 regular season Wednesday, when it travels to Toledo for a 6 p.m. first serve at Savage Arena.
FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans unable to make their way to Savage Arena can still watch the action live, as the match will be broadcast on ESPN+ ... In addition, live stats will be provided by Toledo Athletics ... Updates from the match will also be provided on the team's X feed and Instagram story: @BallStateWVB.
THE FIELD IS SET: Ball State (13-4 MAC) enters the final match of the regular season in position to lock up the No. 2 seed in the 2023 MAC Women's Volleyball Championship with either a win at Toledo or a loss by current No. 4 seed Buffalo (12-5 MAC) at Akron on Wednesday ... Ohio (12-5 MAC) is the current No. 3 seed, holding the head-to-head tie breaker over the Bulls by virtue of sets won as they split their two regular season meetings ... However, the Cardinals hold the head-to-head edge over the Bobcats thanks to its 3-1 in Worthen Arena on Oct. 28 ... Were all three teams to end with the same record, Buffalo would hold the three-way tiebreaker having beat BSU twice this season ... Western Michigan (17-0 MAC) has locked up the No. 1 seed and hosting rights to the event, which will run Saturday, Nov. 18 to Monday, Nov. 20 in University Arena ... Rounding out the six-team field are Toledo (10-7 MAC) and Bowling Green (10-7 MAC), with the Rockets holding the tiebreaker between the two.
BALL STATE ALL-TIME: The Ball State enters Wednesday's match at Toledo with a 1,011-645-2 (.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 an 13-4 MAC record so far this season, Ball State maintains its status as the winningest program in league play with a 446-219 (.671) all-time Mid-American Conference mark ... Western Michigan is second on the list, three matches behind the Cardinals at 443-222 (.666) ... Toledo is 11th based on winning percentage at 214-450 (.322).
THE WORTHEN FACTOR: The Cardinals own an even better record when playing at home, boasting a 318-96 (.768) all-time mark inside Worthen Arena ... Looking at just opponents from the MAC, Ball State is 235-58 (.802) 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: After picking up a pair of home wins over Northern Illinois last weekend, Ball State improved to 37-3 in Worthen Arena over the past three seasons (Fall 2021-2023) ... BSU has won its last 27 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 TOLEDO: Ball State maintains a commanding 74-11 advantage in the all-time series versus Toledo including six straight wins ... Earlier this season, the Cardinals picked up a 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-21) victory over the Rockets in Worthen Arena ... Ball State is 32-6 all-time at Toledo, having won its last two road matches in the series ... However, UT's last victory was a 3-2 (25-17, 17-25, 25-21, 20-25, 21-19) on its home court Feb. 4, 2021, during the COVID spring season.
SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• Ball State enters Wednesday's match with a 16-12 (13-4 MAC) record after closing the home portion of the 2023 season with a pair of wins over Northern Illinois last weekend ... BSU's only four MAC losses have come to first-place WMU and fourth-place Buffalo ... Prior to league play, the Cardinals played one of the league's toughest non-conference slates, including three programs (No. 15 Creighton, No. 19 Dayton and No. 22 Western Kentucky) currently ranked inside the Top 25 of the AVCA/Taraflex Coaches Poll.
• Ball State is one of the nation's top blocking programs, ranking first in the MAC and 110th nationally with a 2.22 blocks-per-set average ... Freshman middle Camryn Wise has played a large role in those numbers over the last nine weeks, averaging a league-best 1.13 blocks per set ... Wise, who has played in 66.0% (68 of 103) of Ball State's sets this season, would rank 90th 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 league and ranks 30th nationally with a 4.10 kills-per-set average ... Fifth-year middle Marie Plitt is BSU's top attacker by percentage, boasting a .401 hitting percentage which is second in the league and 20th nationally.
SCOUTING TOLEDO:
• The Rockets enter Wednesday's match with a 12-16 (10-7 MAC) record after suffering a pair of home losses to Western Michigan last weekend ... In fact, Toledo has lost its last four home matches, including 3-1 losses to Ohio (Oct. 27) and Kent State (Oct. 28) ... UT, which is 4-9 at home this season, earned its last home win by a score of 3-2 over Buffalo on Oct. 14.
• Toledo currently ranks sixth in the MAC and 99th nationally with a 12.95 kills-per-set average, led by Taylor Alt who is second in the league and 44th among all NCAA Division I players with a 3.95 average ... UT's 1,438 total kills are also third in the MAC and 32 nationally.
• The Rockets also boast one of the nation's top backcourts, ranking third in the MAC and 56th among all NCAA Division I programs with a 15.72 digs-per-set average ... The team's 1,745 total digs are first in the MAC and 27th nationally ... Individually, Ryann Jaqua ranks first in the MAC and 17th nationally with her 5.14 digs-per-set average, while her 571 total digs are 10th in the nation.
BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• Marie Plitt currently leads the squad and ranks 20th nationally with a .401 (273-36-591) 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 the win over Kent State (Oct. 27) and .688 (11-0-16) in the victory over Central Michigan (Sept. 21) ... Overall, she has hit .500-or-better in 36 career matches ... In BSU's first 17 MAC matches this season, Plitt is hitting a league-best .449 (190-20-379) and averaging 3.02 kills per set.
• Marie Plitt enters Wednesday's match at Toledo atop Ball State's all-time list with a .363 career hitting percentage, just ahead Julie Zilka's (1998-2001) .360 mark ... 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 1282 career kills, Plitt currently ranks sixth in program history and needs 81 more to pass Katie Butts' (1999-2002) total of 1,362 for sixth.
• Marie Plitt has also made her presence felt at the net over her career, ranking fifth in program history with 416 career blocks ... She is fifth on Ball State's all-time charts with 333 career block assists, while ranking ninth with 83 solo blocks.
• Fifth-year defensive specialist Havyn Gates has served as starting libero in 27 of Ball State's 28 matches this season, and has now started in the off-colored jersey 32 times in her Ball State career ... She became the 20th player in program history to reach 1,000 career digs at Ball State with her second of a match-high 21 digs versus Northern Illinois (Nov. 10) ... She enters Wednesday's match at Toledo with 1,039 digs as a Cardinal ... Throw in her 1,124 digs over her two-year career at Indiana Wesleyan (2019-2020) and she owns 2,163 collegiate digs.
• Havyn Gates was collected 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), 20 at Western Michigan (Nov. 3), 21 in the first win over NIU (Nov. 10) and 20 more in the second victory over the Huskies (Nov. 11) and Gates has 30 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.
• Megan Wielonski, who currently ranks sixth in program history with 3,841 career assists, has proven to be one of the nation's elite setters ... In fact, her 3,841 career assists currently rank 14th 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 ... 28 matches into the 2023 season and Wielonski is 18th nationally with 1,088 total assists.
• In addition to being one of the nation's top setters, Megan Wielonski is one of the country's top servers with 134 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 30 aces so far this season.
• Aniya Kennedy enters Wednesday's match versus Toledo leading the league and ranked 30th nationally with a 4.10 kills-per-set average ... She's even better in league play, with a 4.60 kills-per-set average ... She has smashed double-digit kills in 22 matches, while leading the team in kills in 19 outings ... In BSU's four-set win over Akron (Oct. 13), Kennedy was credited with a career-high 25 kills, a mark she later tied at Western Michigan (Nov. 3).
• In fact, Aniya Kennedy's 25 kills versus Akron (Oct. 13) and at WMU (Nov. 3) are 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 25 kills tie as the seventh-most by a MAC player in a match this season and are the fourth-best total by a league attacker in a four-set match ... 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 ... In fact, her six matches with 20-or-more kills this season tie as the 10th-most in a single season in program history.
• Madison Buckley has also made a big impact from the attack line, ranking third on the squad at 2.44 kills per set ... Her biggest match came in the last outing when she blasted a career-high 16 kills versus NIU (Nov. 11) ... She also added 14 kills at then-No. 20 Creighton (Sept. 1), versus UIC (Sept. 9) and at Buffalo (Oct. 20) ... Buckley has also made her presence felt at the net, ranking second on the team with an 0.85 blocks-per-set average ... She has a team-best 88 total blocks this season, including five solo blocks and 83 block assists.
• Freshman Camryn Wise has found a home in the middle of the court over the last nine weeks, boasting a team and MAC-leading 1.12 blocks-per-set average ... She has earned at least two blocks in 17 of the 19 matches she has played, including a career-high nine in four-set wins over Akron (Oct. 14) and Ohio (Oct. 28) ... Wise has also aided from the attack line, with 78 kills and a .356 hitting percentage, including a career-high 11 kills at Buffalo (Oct. 21).
• Freshman outside attacker Kendall Barnes has been heating up as of late, including a career-high 14 kills last Friday versus NIU (Nov. 10) ... That followed a 10-kill effort at Western Michigan (Nov. 4), which was the first double-dig kill match of her collegiate career.
• Ball State ranks fourth in the MAC and 73rd nationally with a 15.42 digs-per-set average ... Havyn Gates leads the squad and is sixth in the MAC with her 4.06 average ... Megan Wielonski is not far behind, ranking second on the team at 2.52 digs per set ... Wielonski is also 15 digs shy of 1,000 for her career.
