No. 15 Men's Volleyball Hosts National Powerhouse Fourth-Ranked Hawai'i Sunday

Sunday, January 28

Muncie, Ind.

7 pm

Ball State University

University of Hawaii (Fraternity/Sorority Night)

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Ball State vs. Stanford, Men's Volleyball, Collegiate Classic

No. 15 Men's Volleyball Hosts National Powerhouse Fourth-Ranked Hawai'i Sunday

January 27, 2024 | Men's Volleyball

ESPN+Live Stats

First Serve:
The No. 15 Ball State men's volleyball team will welcome the fourth-ranked Hawai'i Rainbows to Worthen Arena Sunday evening at 7 pm ET in Worthen Arena. Hawai'i leads the all-time series record 15-5 over Ball State. The Cardinals dropped their two matches to the Rainbows last season in Honolulu suffering 3-1 setbacks in both competitions.

The last time Hawai'i Came to Muncie:
Ball State hosted Hawai'i in 2022 where they defeated the four-time national champion in a 3-0 sweep on Jan. 29 and then wrapped up the two-match sweep in a five-set thriller on Jan. 31.

Last Serve:
The Cardinals recently competed at the First Point Challenge in Austin, Texas where the fell to No. 13 USC and Stanford by a score of 3-1. Against USC, Tinaishe Ndavazocheva recorded 23 kills and served up six aces. Against No. 8 Stanford, Patrick Rogers led BSU offensively with 19 kills. Ball State enters Sunday's competition with a 7-4 overall record.

Coach Cruz:?Ball State head coach Donan Cruz enters his third season at the helm of the Cardinals and owns an overall record at BSU of 50-17 (.767) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, two MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

About Hawai'i:
The Rainbows come to Muncie with a 5-1 overall record with their only loss coming against MIVA member Loyola Chicago on Jan. 5 by a score of 3-2. Hawai'i just recently defeated Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday (3-1) and Friday (3-0).

Preseason All-MIVA:?The 2024 roster is a good mixture of some familiar faces along with several newcomers. One of the Cardinals returnees is sophomore outside hitter Tinaishe Ndavazocheva who was recently named to the 12-member preseason All-MIVA conference team. Ndavazocheva turned in quite the rookie season for the Cardinals last year. He earned MIVA Offensive Player of the Week honors and Off the Block National Honors on Feb. 7. He turned in a career high 27 kills against Lewis (2/9) and had 22 double digit kill performances in 2023. Ndavazocheva ended the season ranked second on the team in kills (342) and in points (397.5). He also received All-MIVA First Team honors and AVCA Honorable Mention All-American.

About Hawai'i:
The Rainbows come to Muncie with a 5-1 overall record with their only loss coming against MIVA member Loyola Chicago on Jan. 5 by a score of 3-2. Hawai'i just recently defeated Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday (3-1) and Friday (3-0). Spyros Chaka leads the Rainbows with 81 kills while averaging 4.05 kills per set for a .424 hitting percentage.

Preseason All-MIVA:?The 2024 roster is a good mixture of some familiar faces along with several newcomers. One of the Cardinals returnees is sophomore outside hitter Tinaishe Ndavazocheva who was recently named to the 12-member preseason All-MIVA conference team. Ndavazocheva turned in quite the rookie season for the Cardinals last year. He earned MIVA Offensive Player of the Week honors and Off the Block National Honors on Feb. 7. He turned in a career high 27 kills against Lewis (2/9) and had 22 double digit kill performances in 2023. Ndavazocheva ended the season ranked second on the team in kills (342) and in points (397.5). He also received All-MIVA First Team honors and AVCA Honorable Mention All-American.

Up Next: The Cardinals open MIVA action at home Thursday, Feb. 1 against Loyola Chicago at 7 pm ET in Worthen Arena. Ball State will then return to non-conference play Friday where they will host Penn State at 7 pm ET.

The Legend Don Shondell:?The Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association has announced changes to the MIVA Tournament format. The conference has also announced that future tournament winners will receive the Don Shondell MIVA Championship Trophy.

The MIVA Tournament has been played after every regular season since 1980 except 2020, and was also played from 1964-69. The new format for the MIVA Tournament will reward the highest seeds, providing an advantage for a path to the NCAA tournament via the MIVA's automatic bid.
The opening round of the eight-team tournament will be played at the higher four seeds. No. 1 will host No. 8, No. 2 will host No. 7, No. 3 will host No. 6, and No. 4 will host No. 5.

The semifinal and final rounds will be hosted by the highest remaining seed in the field. The field will also re-seed. The highest remaining seed will host the lowest remaining seed and the other two teams will play in the other semifinal. The two winning teams will play in the final match for the Don Shondell MIVA Championship Trophy.

The new namesake for the MIVA Championship Trophy was inducted into the inaugural class of the MIVA Hall of Fame in 2017. His impact on the conference is unmeasurable. He co-founded the MIVA and served as its first president. As the head coach of the Ball State Cardinals, he won 20 championships in 34 years with 14 trips to the NCAA tournament. He finished with a career record of 769-280-6 (.732), which is the second-most wins in NCAA men's volleyball history. He was inducted into the Ball State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1983, Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1996, and AVCA Hall of Fame in 2003.

The path to the MIVA title and the chance to hoist the Don Shondell MIVA Championship Trophy begins on April 13. The semifinal will be on April 17 and the title match will be on Saturday, April 20.