No. 11 Men's Volleyball Travels to No. 9 BYU for Two Matches This Weekend

Match Info:

No. 11 Ball State vs. No. 9 BYU

Friday, Jan. 5 (9 pm ET)
Saturday, Jan. 6 (9 pm ET)
Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
Watch | Live Stats

Match Recap:
The No. 11 Ball State men's volleyball team opened its season at home with two victories over Wabash and one win against Thomas More, each resulting in 3-0 sweeps for the Cardinals.

In three matches, the Cardinals were led offensively by Trevor Phillips and Ryan Bartz each having 14 kill's total. What was even more impressive was Ball State's serving as the team combined for a total of 28 service aces which was led by Patrick Rogers with six. Offensively, the Cardinals hit .417 from the floor of 216 swings.

Notes:
The AVCA/NVA National Collegiate MVB Poll came out Wednesday which had the Cardinals ranked at No. 11 to start the season.

The Cardinals will now head to No. 9 BYU for two matches Friday and Saturday. First serves are scheduled for 9 pm ET each match. Last season the Cardinals split the two-match series in Muncie against the Cougars after losing 3-1 on Feb. 2 and then came back to win the second match by the same score Feb. 4. This will also mark the 22nd and 23rd all-time meetings between BSU and BYU with the Cougars leading the series, 18-5.

Currently assistant coach Christian Rupert played men's volleyball at BYU. Rupert was a middle blocker for BYU from 2015-2018. He helped the Cougars make appearances in the NCAA Championship match in 2016 and 2017 and reach the semifinals in 2018. Rupert was a member of three Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) regular season championships (2016, 2017, & 2018) and also won two MPSF Tournament titles (2016 & 2018).

Ball State head coach Donan Cruz enters his third season at the helm of the Cardinals and owns an overall record at BSU of 46-13 (.767) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, two MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

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.

No. 11 Men's Volleyball Travels to No. 9 BYU for Two Matches This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Ryan Bartz

Tinaishe Ndavazocheva

Trevor Phillips

Patrick Rogers