WVB Opens Season Friday at Florida Atlantic Invitational

Ball State (0-0) at Florida Atlantic Invitational
Match 1 - vs. Seton Hall (0-0)	Friday, Aug. 30 at 10 a.m. FloSports \| Live Stats
Match 2 - vs. Bryant (0-0)	Friday, Aug. 30 at 4:30 p.m. FloSports \| Live Stats
Match 3 - at Florida Atlantic (0-0)	Saturday, Aug. 31 at 1 p.m. FAUSports.TV \| Live Stats
Notes	Ball State \| Seton Hall \| Bryant \| Florida Atlantic
Social Media	X (Twitter) \| Instagram

VOLLEYBALL IS BACK: The Ball State women's volleyball team begins its 53rd season of play Friday when it battles Seton Hall (10 a.m.) and Bryant (4:30 p.m.) on the opening day of the Florida Atlantic Invitational ... The Cardinals close the tournament Saturday with a 1 p.m. match up versus host FAU.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans unable to make their way to Baldwin Arena this weekend will have several ways to follow the action from home ... Both Friday matches will be broadcast live on FloSports, while Saturday's showdown will be covered live on FAUSports.TV ... Live stats will be available for all three matches courtesy of Florida Atlantic ... Live updates from the matches will also be provided on the team's X feed: @BallStateWVB.

MAC PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATION: With no divisions for the first time since the 1996 season, the Ball State women's volleyball team received 98 points in the league's annual coaches poll, trailing only Western Michigan (121) and Bowling Green (102) ... With coaches unable to vote for their own teams, WMU earned 11 of the 12 votes to win the MAC regular season title, with BGSU claiming the other ... The Broncos, who also received votes in the 2024 AVCA Preseason Coaches Poll, was also selected as the favorite to win the MAC Volleyball Championship with nine votes, followed by the Falcons (2) and the Cardinals (1).

PRESEASON HONORS: In addition to the team rankings, the MAC announced its annual Preseason All-MAC Team ... Representing Ball State are senior setter Megan Wielonski and redshirt sophomore outside Aniya Kennedy ... Wielonski earns Preseason All-MAC honors for the third consecutive season after claiming All-MAC First Team accolades for the third straight year ... Kennedy earns a nod on the Preseason All-MAC team for the first time in her career after a stellar 2023 campaign which saw her claim both First Team All-MAC and MAC Freshman of the Year honors.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES: Ball State will be meeting both Seton Hall and Bryant for the first time in women's volleyball ... Saturday's match with Florida Atlantic will mark just the second showdown between the two programs, with Ball State winning the only previous meeting by a score of 3-0 (30-28, 25-21, 25-17) on Sept. 4, 2015, as part of the Lipscomb Invitational.

SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• Ball State finished the 2023 season with a 17-15 (13-5 MAC) record, earning a bid into the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) ... The Cardinals picked up a first-round victory over host Middle Tennessee, before falling in the round of 16 to Clemson.
• The Cardinals return 11 players from last season's squad, including five who were in the starting rotation at the end of the year ... Two of them are returning All-MAC First Team honorees in senior setter Megan Wielonski and redshirt sophomore outside Aniya Kennedy.
• Wielonski was one of the nation's top setters, ranking 13th nationally with 1,269 assists in 2023 ... The effort helped the Cardinals rank 54th nationally with a .245 team attack percentage.
• Kennedy played a big part of that as well, ranking 32nd nationally with a 4.12 kills-per-set average ... Her 470 total kills were 31st nationally.

SCOUTING SETON HALL:
• The Pirates finished the 2023 season with a 14-15 overall record, including an 8-10 mark in Big East play.
• Led by fourth-year head coach Shannon Thompson, Seton Hall was picked to finish seventh among the 11 teams in the Big East Preseason Coaches Poll.
• Last season, the Pirates were one of the top blocking teams in the Big East, ranking fourth in the league and 143rd nationally with a 2.10 blocks-per-set average ... Junior middle blocker Asli Subaslil led the way last season, ranking third in the league and 157th nationally at 1.04 blocks-per-set.

SCOUTING BRYANT:
• The Bulldogs have finished each of the last two seasons with 19-12 overall records, including 6-4 marks in America East play.
• Led by 29th-year head coach Theresa Garlacy, Bryant was selected to finish fourth among the league's six teams in the Big East Preseason Poll with senior outside hitter Aubrey LaPour earning Preseason All-Conference honors.
• LaPour lead the Black and Gold, and ranked second in the conference, with 387 kills last season and earned First Team All-America East honors.
• Bryant was one of the nation's toughest serving teams, last season ranking sixth nationally with 1.98 aces per set ... Junior outside/opposite Arianna Ugolini led the way with 48 aces and a 0.42 aces-per-set average which ranked 70th nationally.

SCOUTING FLORIDA ATLANTIC:
• The Owls finished the 2023 season with a 20-13 overall record, including a 12-7 mark in American Athletic Conference play ... It was the program's seventh all-time 20-win season.
• Under the direction of 13th-year head coach Fernanda Nelson, Florida Atlantic was selected to finish fifth among the 13 teams in the AAC's Preseason Coaches Poll with senior outside hitter Valeria Rosado earning Preseason All-Conference honors.
• Rosado earned Second Team All-Conference honors last season after she led FAU with 10 double-doubles and ranked second on the squad with 275 kills.
• Last season, FAU ranked 38th nationally with 1,616 total kills, including 256 from senior outside/opposite Katelynn Robine.

BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• Megan Wielonski, who currently ranks sixth in program history with 4,022 career assists, has proven to be one of the nation's elite setters ... She has ranked in the top 15 nationally in assists in each of her first three seasons: second (1,394) in 2021, fourth (1,359) in 2022 and 13th (1,269) in 2023 ... At the end of last season, she was 13th among all active NCAA Division I players with her 4,022 career assists.

• In addition to being one of the nation's top setters, Megan Wielonski is one of the country's top servers with 144 career aces ... The total currently ranks fourth in program history ... 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 ... In 2022, she ranked 55th nationally with 46 service aces, while she had a team-leading 40 aces last season.

• Megan Wielonski has also shined in the backcourt over her Ball State career, becoming just the 21st player in program history to register over 1,000 career digs in BSU's NIVC victory at Middle Tennessee (Nov. 30) ... She enters her senior season ranked 20th in program history with 1,021 career digs ... Overall, she has accumulated double-digit digs in 54 career matches which is tied for 13th in program history and gives her 54 career assist/dig double-doubles.

• Aniya Kennedy finished her first season with the Cardinals ranked 32nd nationally with a 4.12 kills-per-set average ... She was even better in league play, with a 4.56 kills-per-set average ... She smashed double-digit kills in 26 matches, while leading the team in kills in 23 outings ... In BSU's four-set win over Akron (Oct. 13), Kennedy was credited with a career-high 25 kills, a mark she later tied at Western Michigan (Nov. 3).

• In fact, Aniya Kennedy's 25 kills versus Akron (Oct. 13) and at WMU (Nov. 3) were the most for a Ball State player in a match since Kia Holder (2017-20) logged 27 at Eastern Michigan on March 27, 2021 ... In addition, the 25 kills tied as the 10th-most by a MAC player in a match last season and were the fourth-best total by a league attacker in a four-set match ... Kennedy was the first Ball State player to register multiple 20+ kill matches in the same season since Natalie Risi (2019-22) had two as a freshman in 2019 ... In fact, her eight matches with 20-or-more kills last season were the eighth-most in a single season in program history and were the most since Sarah Obras (2002-05) registered seven in 2004.

• Madison Buckley made a big impact from the attack line last season, ranking third on the squad at 2.42 kills per set ... Her biggest match came when she blasted a career-high 16 kills versus NIU (Nov. 11) ... She scored 15 kills versus Bowling Green (Nov. 18) in the MAC Championship quarterfinals, while adding 14 at then-No. 20 Creighton (Sept. 1), versus UIC (Sept. 9) and at Buffalo (Oct. 20) ... Buckley also made her presence felt at the net, ranking second on the team with an 0.80 blocks-per-set average ... She had a team-best 96 total blocks last season, including five solo blocks and 91 block assists.

• Freshman Camryn Wise found a home in the middle of the court over the final 12 weeks of the 2023 season, boasting a team-leading 1.09 blocks-per-set average ... The mark also ranked second among all league players and 116th nationally ... She earned at least two blocks in 21 of the 23 matches she has played, including a career-high nine in four-set wins over Akron (Oct. 14) and Ohio (Oct. 28) ... Wise also aided from the attack line, with 95 kills and a .348 hitting percentage, including a career-high 11 kills at Buffalo (Oct. 21).

• Freshman outside attacker Kendall Barnes found her grove of the final few weeks of the season, smashing double digit kills in five of BSU's last seven matches ... She scored a career-high 17 kills in the NIVC first-round victory at Middle Tennessee (Nov. 30), while finishing the season with 13 in the NIVC second-round loss to Clemson (Dec. 1) ... Even more impressive, she hit a career-best .552 (17-1-29) in the win over the Blue Raiders.

• With the loss of fifth-year middle Marie Plitt (2019-23), who finished her career ranked first in program history with a .362 career hitting percentage, the Cardinals needed a boost in the middle this season ... Cue graduate transfer Aayinde Smith who joins the squad after helping guide Towson to an 85-14 record over the past four seasons ... A two-time All-Colonial Athletic Association Second Team selection, Smith finished the 2023 campaign ranked second in the CAA with a 1.18 blocks-per-set average, while ranking ninth in the conference with a .322 hitting percentage ... The effort included 10 matches hitting .500-or-better ... She finished her junior season with the Tigers with the 10th-best season hitting percentage in program history at .362, while also averaging 1.18 blocks per set.

• With the loss of last season's libero Havyn Gates (2021-23) to graduation, the Cardinals will also be looking to replace a key backcourt position this season ... Among returning players, junior Paige Busick ranked third on the squad with 193 digs last season, while senior Kendall Seimet was not far behind at 187.

• Also looking to get into the mix in the backcourt are freshmen Sophie Ledbetter and Elizabeth Tabeling ... Ledbetter helped guide Hamilton Southeastern to back-to-back IHSAA Class 4A State Volleyball Championships as a junior and senior ... The Royals posted a perfect 33-0 mark in 2023, after going 34-1 in 2022 ... Ledbetter finished her career with 1,008 digs for the Royals, including 433 her senior campaign ... Tabeling helped guide her St. Henry squad to a pair of KHSAA state championship matches, including winning the title her sophomore season ... She helped guide the Crusaders to an 88-33 record over her career, accumulating 1,293 career digs.

• For the team's solid work in the classroom, Ball State was one of a record number of more than 1,400 collegiate and high school volleyball teams to earn the 2023-24 AVCA Team Academic Award sponsored by INTENT ... The Cardinals, who claimed the honor for the eighth straight season and the 14th time overall, finished the 2023-24 academic year with a 3.63 team GPA ... Of Ball State's 18 countable student-athletes, 17 maintained at least a 3.07 GPA during the academic year.

WVB Opens Season Friday at Florida Atlantic Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Kendall Barnes

Madison Buckley

Paige Busick

Havyn Gates

Aniya Kennedy

Sophie Ledbetter

Marie Plitt

Kendall Seimet

Aayinde Smith

Elizabeth Tabeling

Megan Wielonski

Camryn Wise