WVB Returns to the Road for Indiana Invitational

Ball State (3-3) at Indiana Invitational
Match 7 - vs. Chicago State (2-3)	Friday, Sept. 13 at 3 p.m. Live Stats \| B1G+
Match 8 - vs. Southern Indiana (2-4)	Saturday, Sept. 14 at 11 a.m. Live Stats \| B1G+
Match 9 - at Indiana (3-2)	Saturday, Sept. 14 at 4 p.m. Live Stats \| B1G+
Notes	Ball State \| Chicago State \| Southern Indiana \| Indiana
Social Media	X (Twitter) \| Instagram

THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball program returns to the road for the third straight weekend for the Indiana Invitational ... The Cardinals open the two-day event Friday with a 3 p.m. match versus Chicago State ... Ball State battle Southern Indiana (11 a.m.) and host Indiana (4 p.m.) Saturday.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans unable to make their way to Wilkinson Hall this weekend will have several ways to follow the action from home ... All three matches are slated to be streamed on B1G+ ($12.99 for a monthly pass) ... In addition, live stats will be available for the entire tournament courtesy of host Indiana ... Live updates from the matches will also be provided on the team's X feed and Instagram story: @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 is 22-26 all-time versus teams in the Indiana Invitational field ... The Cardinals are 2-0 all-time versus Chicago State, including a 3-0 (25-8, 25-10, 25-12) win in the latest meeting Sept. 11, 2009 ... Indiana holds a 26-22 lead in the all-time series versus Ball State, including a 3-2 (25-16, 23-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-13) win in the last meeting Sept. 8, 2018 ... The Cardinals will be facing Southern Indiana for the first time in women's volleyball.

SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• Ball State enters the Indiana Invitational with a 3-3 overall record after going 1-2 last weekend at the Kentucky Invitational ... After earning a 3-1 win over James Madison, which finished ranked 25th in the RPI last season, the Cardinals were swept by both then-No. 7 Penn State and then-No. 9 Kentucky.
• The Cardinals continue to be one of the nation's most dangerous offenses, ranking first in the Mid-American Conference and 49th nationally with a .257 attack percentage ... The mark includes a .271 rate of success against then-No. 7 Penn State, which is the best hitting mark against the Nittany Lions so far this season.
• Ball State has also made some major strides at the net this season, ranking third in the league and 68th nationally with a 2.42 team blocks-per-set average ... Sophomore middle Gwen Crull is currently third in the MAC with a 1.40 blocks-per-set average, while graduate middle Aayinde Smith is 10th at 1.00.

SCOUTING CHICAGO STATE:
• The Cougars enter the Indiana Invitational with a 2-3 record and will battle the host Hoosiers before taking on the Cardinals Friday ... Last weekend, Chicago State went 2-1 at the Dunn Hospitality Tournament hosted by Evansville, starting with a 3-1 win over the Aces ... CSU also topped MAC member Miami by a 3-2 margin, before suffering a 3-2 setback to Samford.
• An NIVC participant a season ago, the Cougars enter the week hitting just .138 as a team ... Patrycja Lagida leads the squad with a 3.75 kill-per-set average, while connecting for a .164 hitting mark.

SCOUTING SOUTHERN INDIANA:
• In its third year of transition to NCAA Division I, the Screaming Eagles own a 2-4 overall record ... Last weekend, USI went 0-3 at the Florida Invitational, starting with a 3-1 setback to Ohio State ... The 25-23 second-set victory over the Buckeyes marked the first set victory over a Power Four school in program history ... Southern Indiana also suffered 3-0 setbacks to No. 10 Florida and South Florida in the event.
• USI is led by former Ball State men's volleyball letterwinner Jeffrey Aucoin who played for the Cardinals during the 2012 seasons ... Prior to attending Ball State, Aucoin helped guide the University of New Hampshire men's volleyball club team to a NCVF Division 1AA National Championships.
• Another familiar face on the Southern Indiana staff is assistant coach Julianna Cramer who played her final season of collegiate volleyball at Ball State in 2022 and was the program's Director of Operations last season.

SCOUTING INDIANA:
• The Hoosiers enter the week with a 3-2 overall record after a tough week of their own last week ... After earning a 3-1 win over UC Davis, IU suffered a 3-0 setback at then-No. 1 Texas and fell to a receiving votes Miami (Fla.) squad by a score of 3-1.
• Indiana enters the weekend as one of the nation's top serving teams, ranking 24th nationally at 2.16 aces per set ... Candela Alonso-Corcelles, Camryn Haworth and Avry Tatum lead the squad with nine aces apiece.
• Offensively, Tatum and Alonso-Corcelles lead the squad at 3.32 and 3.16 kills per set, respectively ... Mady Saris is right behind at 2.63.

BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• With her 50th of 57 assists in last Friday's win over James Madison, Megan Wielonski climbed to fifth on Ball State's career assists list ... She enters the Indiana Invitational with 4,227 career assists which is currently third among active NCAA Division I players ... Western Michigan's Logan Case is first at 5,313 (with the benefit of an extra COVID season), while Colorado State's Emery Herman is second at 4,406 ... Wielonski 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.

• In addition to being one of the nation's top setters, Megan Wielonski is one of the country's top servers with 152 career aces ... The total, which includes eight aces so far this season, currently ranks 10th among active NCAA Division I players and is the most for any active student-athlete from the Mid-American Conference ... 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 also 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, 2023) ... She has 42 total digs so far this season, raising her career total to 1,063 which is 20th in program history ... Overall, she has accumulated double-digit digs in 55 career matches which is tied for 12th in program history and gives her 55 career assist/dig double-doubles.

• Aniya Kennedy has picked up right where she left off last season, leading the Ball State offense with 70 kills and a 3.68 kills-per-set average ... Last season, she finished the year ranked 32nd nationally with a 4.12 kills-per-set average ... Over her career, including three times so far this season, Kennedy has smashed double-digit kills in 29 matches and led the team in kills in 26 outings.

• Including her season-high 20 kills at Florida Atlantic (Aug. 31), Aniya Kennedy has smashed 20-or-more kills in nine career matches ... The total ranks eighth in program history ... Last season, she registered a career-high 25 kills in two matches - versus Akron (Oct. 13, 2023) and at WMU (Nov. 3, 2023) - which were the most kills for a BSU player in a match since Kia Holder (2017-20) logged 27 at Eastern Michigan on March 27, 2021 ... In addition, Kennedy was the first Cardinal to register multiple 20+ kill matches in the same season since Natalie Risi (2019-22) had two as a freshman in 2019.

• Freshman outside Carson Tyler added her name to the 20+ kill list last Friday, smashing a career-high 21 kills in the four-set win over James Madison ... It was her first of back-to-back matches in double figures, as she added 12 more versus then-No. 7 Penn State ... Tyler currently ranks second on the squad with 47 kills and a 2.47 kills-per-set average.

• Freshman libero Sophie Ledbetter has shined in her first two weeks of collegiate action, leading the squad and ranking fourth in the MAC with a with a 4.67 digs-per-set average ... The effort includes a career-high 27 digs in the win over James Madison (Sept. 6) and 20 in the sweep of Bryant (Aug. 30) ... Ledbetter also boasts a .913 reception percentage, including perfect marks in four of BSU's six matches.

• Freshman defensive specialist Elizabeth Tabeling has also made a big impact in the back row for the Cardinals, ranking third on the squad with 37 digs for a 2.47 digs-per-set average ... The effort included a career-high 11 digs in the win over James Madison (Sept. 6).

• Graduate middle Aayinde Smith has been a big addition for the Ball State front line, ranking third on the squad with 2.05 kills per set, while ranking second on the team with 1.00 blocks per set ... A two-time All-CAA Second Team selection in her four years at Towson, Smith also owns a .368 attack percentage which ranks fourth among MAC players.

• Another big addition in the middle is sophomore Gwen Crull who leads the team and ranks third in the MAC with a 1.40 blocks-per-set average ... Crull has recorded at least two blocks in five of the six matches she has played, including season-highs of 4.0 versus both James Madison (Sept. 6) and then-No. 7 Penn State (Sept. 7) ... In fact, she led the Ball State defense with 10 total blocks at the Kentucky Invitational.

• Looking at Ball State's defense, the Cardinals limited Bryant (Aug. 30) to a -.020 (24-26-99) attack percentage ... It was the lowest attacking mark for a Ball State opponent since the 2018 campaign, when the Cardinals held Grambling to a -.061 (18-23-82) rate of success on Aug. 31 ... That same season, the Ball State defense limited North Dakota State to a -.018 (23-25-114) hitting mark on Sept. 7.

• 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.

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Players Mentioned

Gwen Crull

Aniya Kennedy

Sophie Ledbetter

Aayinde Smith

Elizabeth Tabeling

Carson Tyler

Megan Wielonski