Volleyball Closes Home Slate This Weekend Versus Northern Illinois

Ball State (14-12; 11-4 MAC) hosts Northern Illinois (8-19; 6-9 MAC)
Match 27 - hosts NIU	Friday, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. ET ESPN+ \| Live Stats \| SL Digital PROMOTIONS: Black Out - Fans are encourages to wear black to help us BLACK OUT the Huskies
Match 28 - hosts NIU	Saturday, Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. ET ESPN+ \| Live Stats \| SL Digital PROMOTIONS: Senior Night - Ball State will honor is six departing seniors following the match
Notes	Ball State \| Northern Illinois
Social Media	X (Twitter) \| Instagram

THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL: The Ball State women's volleyball team closes the home portion of its 2023 regular season slate with a pair of matches versus Northern Illinois this weekend ... The teams will battle at 6 p.m. both Friday and Saturday inside Worthen Arena.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: 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.

WHERE THINGS STAND: With three matches remaining in the regular season, the Cardinals have locked up one of six bids into the 2023 MAC Women's Volleyball Championship which will be hosted by Western Michigan in University Arena Nov. 18-20 ... Ball State (11-4 MAC) is currently the No. 3 seed, trailing both No. 1 Western Michigan (15-0 MAC), who locked up hosting rights and at least a share of the MAC regular season championships last weekend, and No. 2 Buffalo (12-3 MAC) ... Ohio (10-5 MAC) is currently the No. 4 seed by virtue of its head-to-head win over No. 5 Toledo (10-5) ... Central Michigan (8-7 MAC) is currently the last team in thanks to its head-to-head win over Bowling Green (8-7 MAC) ... Akron (6-9 MAC) and Northern Illinois (6-9 MAC) are battling to stay alive in the hunt for a tournament berth.

BALL STATE ALL-TIME: The Ball State enters Friday's match versus Northern Illinois with a 1,009-645-2 (.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 11-4 MAC record so far this season, Ball State maintains its status as the winningest program in league play with a 444-219 (.670) all-time Mid-American Conference mark ... Western Michigan is second on the list, three matches behind the Cardinals at 441-222 (.665) ... Northern Illinois is third based on winning percentage at 308-205 (.600).

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 its home 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 NORTHERN ILLINOIS: With wins in each of the last four meetings, Ball State has battled back to tie the all-time series versus Northern Illinois at 38-38 ... Last season, the Cardinals claimed a pair of road wins over the Huskies with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-18, 23-25, 25-15) victory Oct. 14 and a 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-22) win Oct. 15 ... BSU also won both meetings on its home court during the 2021 fall campaign ... Ball State is 20-12 all-time versus NIU at home, including an 18-9 edge in Worthen Arena, despite the Huskies topping the Cardinals in both home matches during the 2021 COVID Spring season.

SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• Ball State enters the week with a 14-12 (11-4 MAC) record after suffering a pair of road losses to league-leading Western Michigan last weekend ... BSU's only four MAC losses have come to first-place WMU and second-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. 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 79th nationally with a 2.33 blocks-per-set average ... Freshman middle Camryn Wise has played a large role in those numbers over the last eight weeks, averaging a league-best 1.22 blocks per set ... Wise, who has played in 62.8% (59 of 94) of Ball State's sets this season, would rank 53rd 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 29th nationally with a 4.11 kills-per-set average ... Fifth-year middle Marie Plitt is BSU's top attacker by percentage, boasting a .400 hitting percentage which is second in the league and 22nd nationally.

SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS:
• The Huskies enter the weekend with an 8-19 (6-9 MAC) record, having lost its last seven matches ... Last weekend, NIU suffered a pair of 3-1 home losses to Toledo ... Prior to the current losing streak, the Huskies won six of its first eight MAC matches.
• Northern Illinois is right behind the Cardinals in net play, ranking second in the league and 110th nationally at 2.22 blocks per set ... Charli Atiemo currently leads the MAC and is 127th nationally at 1.09 blocks per set ... The Huskies' 229 total blocks are first in the MAC and 56th nationally, with 112 including Atiemo.
• The NIU defense also features one of the nation's top liberos with Crew Hoffmeier ranking third in the MAC and 55th nationally with a 4.48 digs-per-set average.
• On the offensive front, Northern Illinois enters the weekend ranked sixth in the league an 127th nationally with a .220 hitting percentage ... Nikolette Nedic paces the squad with a 2.66 kills-per-set average, while four Huskies average at least 2.10 kills per set.

BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• Marie Plitt currently leads the squad and ranks 22nd nationally with a .400 (246-32-535) 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 35 career matches ... In BSU's first 15 MAC matches this season, Plitt is hitting a league-best .455 (163-16-323) and averaging 3.02 kills per set.

• Marie Plitt enters Friday's match versus NIU atop Ball State's all-time list with a .362 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 1255 career kills, Plitt currently ranks seventh in program history and needs 13 more to pass Susie Meshberger's (1999-2001) total of 1,267 for sixth.

• Marie Plitt has also made her presence felt at the net over her career, ranking fifth in program history with 411 career blocks ... She is fifth on Ball State's all-time charts with 331 career block assists, while ranking ninth with 80 solo blocks.

• Fifth-year defensive specialist Havyn Gates has served as starting libero in 25 of Ball State's 26 matches this season, and has now started in the off-colored jersey 30 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 20 at Western Michigan (Nov. 3) and Gates has 28 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 2,122 career digs including 998 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 3,735 career assists, has proven to be one of the nation's elite setters ... In fact, her 3,735 career assists currently rank 16th 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 ... 26 matches into the 2023 season and Wielonski is 26th nationally with 982 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 versus Northern Illinois leading the league and ranked 29th nationally with a 4.11 kills-per-set average ... She's even better in league play, with a 4.70 kills-per-set average ... She has smashed double-digit kills in 20 matches, while leading the team in kills in 18 outings ... In BSU's four-set win over Akron (Oct. 13), Kennedy was credited with a career-high 25 kills, a mark she would later tie 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 fifth-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 sixth-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 from the attack line, ranking third on the squad at 2.46 kills per set ... 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) and at Buffalo (Oct. 20) ... Buckley has also made her presence felt at the net, ranking seventh in the MAC with a 0.89 blocks-per-set average ... She has a team-best 84 total blocks this season, including five solo blocks and 79 block assists.

• Freshman Camryn Wise has found a home in the middle of the court over the last eight weeks, boasting a team and MAC-leading 1.22 blocks-per-set average ... She has registered at least two blocks in 15 of the 17 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 65 kills and a .341 hitting percentage, boasting a career-high 11 kills at Buffalo (Oct. 21).

• Ball State currently ranks fourth in the MAC and 71st nationally with a 15.40 digs-per-set average ... Havyn Gates leads the squad and is seventh in the MAC with her 4.01 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 169 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 998 and Wielonski at 963 ... Only 19 players have reached 1,000 career digs at BSU, with the record being 2,273 by Stephanie Keller (2001-04).

Volleyball Closes Home Slate This Weekend Versus Northern Illinois

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Players Mentioned

Madison Buckley

Paige Busick

Havyn Gates

Aniya Kennedy

Marie Plitt

Natalie Risi

Megan Wielonski

Camryn Wise