Ball State University Athletics
Volleyball Heads To Eastern Michigan For Pair Of Weekend Matches
September 28, 2023 | Women's Volleyball
| Ball State (5-8; 2-0 MAC) at Eastern Michigan (2-13; 0-3 MAC) | |
| Match 14 - at EMU | Friday, Sept. 29 at 6 p.m. ET ESPN+ | Live Stats |
| Match 15 - at EMU | Saturday, Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. ET ESPN+ | Live Stats |
| Notes | Ball State | Eastern Michigan |
| Social Media | X (Twitter) | Instagram |
THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL: The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to the road this weekend for a pair of matches at Eastern Michigan ... The Cardinals and Eagles will square off at 6 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday at EMU's George Gervin GameAbove Center.
FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans unable to make their way to the George Gervin GameAbove Center, can follow the action with live stats for both matches courtesy of Ball State athletics ... In addition, both matches 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: Thanks to its 3-0 sweep of Central Michigan last Friday (Sept. 22), Ball State women's volleyball became just the 44th program in NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball history to reach 1,000 wins ... The Cardinals enter this weekend's two-match series at Eastern Michigan with a 1,000-641-2 (.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).
IN #MACTION: With a 2-0 MAC record so far this season, Ball State maintains its status as the winningest program in league play with a 435-215 (.669) all-time Mid-American Conference record ... Western Michigan is second on the list, seven matches behind the Cardinals at 428-222 (.658) ... Eastern Michigan enters the week in eighth at 277-373 (.426).
THE WORTHEN FACTOR: The Cardinals own an even better record when playing at home, boasting a 311-96 (.764) mark inside Worthen Arena after the Ball State Invitational (Aug. 25-26) ... Looking at just opponents from the MAC, Ball State is 228-58 (.797) 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.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES: Ball State holds a 62-26 lead in the all-time series versus Eastern Michigan including a 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-16) victory over the Eagles in the latest meeting played Oct. 1, 2022 in Worthen Arena ... Overall, the Cardinals have won 12 of the last 14 meetings, including four straight ... Ball State is 22-18 all-time in matches played in Ypsilanti, including taking both matches in the 2021 regular season ... EMU's last win was a 3-2 (25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 19-25, 15-13) victory at the George Gervin GameAbove Center in the COVID adjusted 2020-21 spring season.
SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• The Cardinals opened league play with a pair of MAC sweeps over Central Michigan last week, with both matches being played in Worthen Arena ... Ball State is 5-8 (2-0 MAC) on the year after a tough pre-conference slate which ended with a 3-0 sweep of East Tennessee State (Sept. 16) ... The win over the Bucs snapped a seven-match losing streak in which the Cardinals battled some of the nation's top teams, including two programs (No. 16 Creighton and No. 21 Dayton) currently inside the Top 25 of the AVCA/Taraflex Coaches Poll.
• Ball State enters the EMU series as one of the nation's top blocking programs, ranking first in the MAC and 68th nationally with a 2.39 blocks-per-set average ... Freshman middle Camryn Wise has played a large role in those numbers over the last two weeks, averaging 2.00 blocks per set ... Sophomore opposite Madison Buckley has also helped, climbing to second in the MAC with a 1.00 blocks-per-set average.
• On the attacking front, redshirt freshman outside Aniya Kennedy leads the squad and is eighth in the league with a 3.33 kills-per-set average ... Fifth-year middle Marie Plitt is BSU's top attacker by percentage, boasting a .355 hitting percentage which is fifth in the league.
SCOUTING EASTERN MICHIGAN:
• The Eagles enter the weekend with a 2-13 (0-3) record after suffering a 3-2 setback to Central Michigan in its home opener Tuesday ... EMU opened league play with a 3-2 loss at Toledo (Sept. 21) and followed with a 3-0 setback to the rockets the next day.
• Eastern Michigan is one of the top defensive teams in the nation, ranking 56th nationally with a 15.51 digs-per-set average ... Based on total digs, the Eagles are 11th nationally at 946 ... Hannah Howard leads EMU's active players at 3.49 digs-per-set and has a team-best .947 reception percentage.
• Callie Minshew leads the EMU attack with a 3.59 kills-per-set average and has a team-high 17 service aces ... EMU ranks 12th in the conference with a .152 hitting percentage.
BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• Ball State made a brief stop at home last week, improving to 30-3 in Worthen Arena over the past three seasons (Fall 2021-2023) ... BSU has won its last 20 MAC regular season home matches, with its last regular season MAC home loss coming to Central Michigan on March 20, 2021.
• Marie Plitt has picked up right where she left off last season, leading the squad with a .355 (104-17-245) 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 .688 in Thursday's win over Central Michigan (Sept. 21) and has hit .500-or-better in 31 career matches ... Last time out, Plitt hit .529 (10-1-17) to help lead the Cardinals to a 3-0 win over Central Michigan (Sept. 22) to help Ball State open MAC play with a 2-0 record.
• Thanks to her solid start to the year, Marie Plitt enters the Eastern Michigan series ranked third on Ball State's all-time list with a .353 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, Marie 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 1113 career kills, Plitt needs 22 more 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 starting libero in 12 of Ball State's 13 matches so far this season, and has now started in the off-colored jersey 17 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 1,938 career digs including 814 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 3,194 career assists, has proven to be one of the nation's elite setters ... In fact, her 3,194 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 saw her ranked fourth nationally with 1,358 total assists in 2022 ... 13 matches into the 2023 season and Wielonski is 87th nationally with 441 total assists.
• In addition to being one of the nation's top setters, Megan Wielonski is one of the country's top servers with 118 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 14 aces so far this season.
• After dishing out a league-best 12.17 assists per set and guiding the Ball State offense to a .277 hitting percentage last week, Megan Wielonski was named the MAC West Division Setter of the Week for the first time this season and the ninth time in her collegiate career.
• Madison Buckley has made a big impact so far this season, ranking second on the squad with a 2.52 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 has also made her presence felt at the net, ranking second in the MAC with a 1.00 blocks-per-set average ... She has a team-best 46 total blocks this season, including two solo blocks and 44 block assists.
• Aniya Kennedy enters the EMU series as one of the league's top attackers, ranking eighth in the MAC with her team-leading 3.33 kills-per-set average ... She has smashed double-digit kills in eight matches, while leading the team in kills in seven 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 and a mark she tied versus ETSU (Sept. 16).
• Aniya Kennedy became the first Ball State student-athlete to earn league weekly honors this season when she was named the MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week after the Alyssa Cavanaugh Classic ... Kennedy finished the weekend leading all MAC West Division attackers with a 3.71 kills-per-set average, smashing double-digit kills in both of Ball State's matches ... She also hit an impressive .267 (26-10-60) for the week.
• After not seeing action in the first nine matches of the season, freshman Camryn Wise has found a home in the middle of the court over the last two weeks, boasting a team-leading 2.00 blocks-per-set average ... She has improved each time out, culminating with a career best and Ball State season-high eight total blocks in last Friday's sweep over Central Michigan (Sept. 22) ... She started with three blocks over the final two sets at Western Kentucky (Sept. 15), while picking up five in her first career start versus East Tennessee State (Sept. 16) ... In BSU's league opener against CMU (Sept. 21), Wise tallied six blocks ... She has also aided from the attack line, with 14 kills and a .259 hitting percentage over her four matches.
