Volleyball Closes Pre-Conference Slate At WKU

Ball State (2-7; 0-0 MAC) at Alyssa Cavanaugh Classic
Match 10 - WKU (7-4; 0-0 C-USA)	Friday, Sept. 15 at Noon ET / 11 a.m. ET ESPN+ \| Live Stats
Match 11 - ETSU (0-8; 0-0 SoCon)	Saturday, Sept. 16 at Noon ET / 11 a.m. ET Live Stats
Notes	Ball State \| WKU \| ETSU
Social Media	X (Twitter) \| Instagram

THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL: The Ball State women's volleyball team closes its pre-conference slate this weekend when it travels to Western Kentucky for the Alyssa Cavanaugh Classic ... The Cardinals play tournament host WKU Friday and East Tennessee State Saturday, both matches start at Noon ET / 11 a.m. CT.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans unable to make their way to E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky, can follow the action with live stats for both matches courtesy of the host Hilltoppers ... In addition, Ball State's Friday afternoon match at Western Kentucky will be broadcast live on ESPN+ ... Updates from the matches will also be provided on the team's X feed: @BallStateWVB.

BALL STATE ALL-TIME: In its 52nd season of play, Ball State boasts a 997-640-2 (.609) all-time record in women's volleyball ... 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).

MAC PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATION: For the second straight season, the Ball State women's volleyball program was selected to repeat at the Mid-American Conference West Division champion in the league's annual preseason poll ... The Cardinals received 61 points and 11 of the 12 first-place votes to win the division ... Western Michigan was second with one first place vote and 43 points ... In addition, the Cardinals received five votes to win the MAC Tournament which will be hosted by the league's top seed ... Bowling Green was selected to win the MAC East Division and earned six votes to win the tournament.

PRESEASON HONORS: In addition to the team being picked to win the MAC West Division, fifth-year middle Marie Plitt and junior setter Megan Wielonski have been named to the preseason All-MAC team ... Both were first team all-conference selections in each of the past two seasons, with Wielonski earning 2021 MAC Freshman of the Year honors and 2022 MAC Setter of the Year accolades.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES: The Cardinals are 2-1 all-time versus teams in the Alyssa Cavanaugh Classic field.
- The series between Ball State and Western Kentucky is currently tied at 1-1, with each team earning a win on its home court ... BSU won the first meeting in Muncie by a score of 3-1 (13-15, 15-8, 15-2, 15-2) on Sept. 18, 1999 ... WKU earned a 3-0 (30-24, 30-24, 30-28) victory in the latest meeting Sept. 16, 2006.
- Ball State scored a 3-1 (12-25, 28-26, 25-14, 25-15) win over East Tennessee State in the only previous meeting played Sept. 19, 2014 at the VCU Invitational in Richmond, Virginia.

SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• The Cardinals enter the Alyssa Cavanaugh Classic with a 2-7 overall record after three tough losses at last weekend's Dayton Invitational ... BSU suffered 3-1 setbacks to both Wright State and UIC, while being swept by Dayton which climbed to 25th in the latest AVCA/Taraflex Coaches Poll.
• Ball State enters the weekend with a .184 team attack percentage, led by the effort of Marie Plitt who ranks seventh in the MAC with a .311 hitting mark ... Redshirt freshman outside Aniya Kennedy averages a team-best 3.04 kills per set, while sophomore opposite Madison Buckley is second at 2.42.
• The Cardinals enter the weekend as one of the league's top blocking teams, ranked third in the MAC at 2.12 blocks per set ... Senior middle Lauren Gilliland leads the squad in that category with a 0.92 block-per-set, while Plitt and Buckley are right behind at 0.82

SCOUTING WESTERN KENTUCKY:
• The Hilltoppers, which received 48 points in the latest AVCA/Taraflex Coaches Poll, enter the weekend with a 7-4 overall mark after scoring a 3-0 win over Austin Peay Tuesday night.
• Western Kentucky is one of the nation's top attacking teams, ranking 42nd nationally with a .266 hitting percentage and 22nd overall with 503 total kills ... Paige Briggs leads the attack with a 3.56 kills-per-set average, while hitting an impressive .303.
• WKU also features a strong block, ranking 73rd nationally at 2.34 blocks per set ... Logan Grevengoed paces the squad at the net with a 0.89 blocks-per-set average, while Gabby Weihe is second at 0.74.

SCOUTING ETSU:
• The reigning Southern Conference regular season champion, East Tennessee State has had a rough start to the year, entering the weekend with an 0-8 record ... Last weekend, ETSU suffered a 3-0 setback to High Point and a 3-1 loss to Davidson at the High Point Invitational.
• The Bucs enter the weekend with a .081 team attack percentage, with Abbey Thomas leading the squad at .340 ... Amanda Lowe has a team-high 2.48 kills-per-set average, while Brianna Cantrell is second at 2.15.
• In the backcourt, Jasmal Cruz has a team-best 2.57 digs-per-set average, while Malgorzata Andersohn is right behind at 2.54 ... Thomas is the squad's leading blocker at 0.82 blocks per set.

BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• Marie Plitt has picked up right where she left off last season, leading the squad with a .311 (69-14-177) attack percentage so far 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 .500 in the season opener versus Gonzaga (Aug. 25) and has hit .500-or-better in 29 career matches.

• Thanks to her solid start to the year, Marie Plitt enters the Alyssa Cavanaugh Classic ranked third on Ball State's all-time list with a .350 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.

• In addition, Plitt became just 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 1078 career kills, Plitt needs 57 more kills to break into the top 10 in program history, with Mindy Stanley (1993-96) currently ranking 10th at 1,135.

• Fifth-year defensive specialist Havyn Gates has served as Ball State's starting libero in all nine matches so far this season, and has now started in the off-colored jersey 14 times in her Ball State career ... She was credited with a season-high 26 digs in the near upset at 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 1,883 career digs including 759 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 3,054 career assists, has proven to be one of the nation's elite setters ... In fact, her 3,054 career assists currently rank 21st 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 saw her ranked fourth nationally with 1,358 total assists in 2022 ... Nine matches into the 2023 season and Wielonski is 78th nationally with 301 total assists.

• In addition to being one of the nation's top setters, Megan Wielonski is one of the country's top servers with 115 career aces ... 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 11 aces so far this season.

• Madison Buckley has made a big impact so far this season, ranking second on the squad with a 2.42 kills-per-set average ... Her biggest match so far came at No. 20 Creighton (Sept. 1) when she smashed a career-high 14 kills, a mark she later tied versus UIC (Sept. 9) ... Buckley started the year with 10 kills in the win over Gonzaga (Aug. 25), her first career match in double figures.

• Aniya Kennedy has made a big impact for the Ball State attack this season, leading the squad with a 3.04 kills-per-set average ... She has smashed double-digit kills in four matches, while also leading the team in kills in four matches ... Kennedy's best match came versus UNI (Sept. 2) when she smashed a career-high 16 kills, the most for a Ball State student-athlete in a match so far this season.

• In addition to leading the squad with a 3.04 kills-per-set average, Aniya Kennedy has been one of Ball State's most efficient attackers, ranking second on the team with a .226 hitting percentage ... She led Ball State with a .375 (13-4-24) rate of success versus LSU (Sept. 3), while posting a career-best .467 (9-2-15) effort in the win over Purdue Fort Wayne (Aug. 26).

• Lauren Gilliland has been a force at the net so far this season, leading the squad and ranking seventh in the MAC with a 0.92 blocks-per-set average ... She has collected 24 total blocks on the year, including a team-best six solo blocks ... Gilliland is second among active Cardinals with 319 career blocks, trailing only Marie Plitt's 362 ... Plitt's total is 10th in program history, while Gilliland ranks 15th.

• Ball State concluded the 2022 regular season as the winningest program in league play with a 433-215 (.668) all-time Mid-American Conference record ... Western Michigan is second on the list, seven matches behind the Cardinals at 426-222 (.657).

• The Cardinals own an even better record when playing at home, boasting a 309-96 (.763) mark inside Worthen Arena after the Ball State Invitational ... Looking at just opponents from the MAC, Ball State is 226-58 (.796) when battling in "The Nest" ... 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.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Madison Buckley

Havyn Gates

Lauren Gilliland

Aniya Kennedy

Marie Plitt

Megan Wielonski