Ball State University Athletics
Men's Volleyball Returns to MIVA Action on the Road This Weekend
February 08, 2024 | Men's Volleyball
The Cardinals will play at McKendree Friday and at Lindenwood Saturday both matches will start at 8 pm ET
No. 11 Ball State (8-6, 1-0 MIVA) |McKendree (3-4, 0-1 MIVA)
Last meeting: Ball State 3, McKendree 0 (3/30/23)
Series History: Ball State leads the all-time series 14-6
No. 11 Ball State (8-6, 1-0 MIVA) | Lindenwood (3-6, 0-2 MIVA)
Last Meeting: Ball State 3, Lindenwood 0 (3/25/23)
Series History: Ball State leads the all-time series 23-4
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 50-18 (.767) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, two MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Match Recap: Ball State is coming off a 3-1 victory after defeating Loyola Chicago in both squads Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association season opener. It was a close match that consisted of 44 ties and 17 lead changes. After falling behind in the first set 25-23 to the Ramblers the Cardinals came back to take the next three frames, 26-24, 27-25 and 25-23. For the match, Tinaishe Ndavazocheva led with 19 kills and was one dig shy of a double-double. Both Braydon Savitski-Lynde and Patrick Rogers each had 14 kills apiece. Setter Lucas Machado was consistent at the net dishing out 46 assists for a .434 accuracy. Ball State then closed out the weekend with a 3-0 loss to No. 8 Penn State.
First Serve: Ball State returns to MIVA action when it plays at McKendree Friday night and then Lindenwood on Saturday. Both matches will begin at 8 pm ET. The Cardinals defeated the Bearcats and the Lions in their last meetings both resulting in 3-0 sweeps for Ball State. Under the direction of third-year head coach Donan Cruz Ball State owns an 8-0 combined mark over McKendree and Lindenwood. The last time BSU lost to McKendree was on April 2, 2021 by a score of 3-1 and the last time the Cardinals fell to Lindenwoood was on March 29, 2019 by a 3-2 decision. McKendree opened MIVA play with a 3-1 loss versus Lewis on Feb. 2 while Lindenwood fell to Lewis and Ohio State last week by a score of 3-1.
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.
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.
