WVB Back In Action At Kentucky Invitational

Ball State (2-1) at Kentucky Invitational
Match 4 - vs. James Madison (2-1)	Friday, Sept. 6 at 4:30 p.m. Live Stats
Match 5 - vs. No. 7 Penn State (3-0)	Saturday, Sept. 7 at 5 p.m. Live Stats
Match 6 - at No. 9 Kentucky (3-1)	Sunday, Sept. 8 at 2 p.m. SEC Network+ \| Live Stats
Notes	Ball State \| James Madison \| No. 7 Penn State \| No. 9 Kentucky
Social Media	X (Twitter) \| Instagram

THE WEEK AHEAD: The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to the road this weekend for the Kentucky Invitational ... The Cardinals' first test in the three-day event comes Friday afternoon versus James Madison at 4:30 p.m. ... Ball State will then play No. 7 Penn State at 5 p.m. Saturday and No. 9 Kentucky at 2 p.m. Sunday.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans unable to make their way to Memorial Coliseum this weekend will have several ways to follow the action from home ... Live stats will be available for all three matches courtesy of Kentucky athletics ... In addition, Sunday's match versus No. 9 Kentucky will be broadcast live on SEC Network+ ... 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 is 2-7 all-time versus the Kentucky Invitational field ... The Cardinals will be playing James Madison for the first time in women's volleyball ... Penn State holds a 2-0 edge over BSU, while Kentucky has a 5-2 edge in the all-time series.

SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• Ball State opened the season with a 2-1 mark at the Florida Atlantic Invitational ... On the opening day of the event, the Cardinals swept both Seton Hall and Bryant ... Unfortunately, host Florida Atlantic swept BSU in its lone match Saturday.

• The Cardinals shined on defense opening weekend, limiting opponents to a combined .144 attack percentage ... The effort included limiting Bryant to a -.020 (24-26-99) rate of success and holding Seton Hall to a .080 (24-17-88) mark.

• On the flip side, the Ball State offense finished the week with a .288 attack percentage, which currently ranks first in the Mid-American Conference and 31st nationally ... Sophomore middle Camryn Wise currently leads the MAC with a .667 mark, while graduate middle Aayinde Smith is fourth at .394.

SCOUTING JAMES MADISON:
• An NCAA Championship first round participant in each of the last two seasons, James Madison went 2-1 at its own LD&B Insurance Invitational last weekend ... The Dukes earned sweeps over Delaware State and Presbyterian, book ending a five-set loss to Stony Brook.

• James Madison also turned in a solid attacking effort opening weekend, ranking 47th nationally with a .273 hitting percentage ... Savanah Cockrill led the way with a .421 rate of success and also averaged 1.00 blocks per set.

• The Dukes also served up 25 aces opening weekend, which ranks 40th nationally.

SCOUTING PENN STATE:
• The Nittany Lions, where Ball State assistant coach Darcy Dorton started her playing career, enter the weekend ranked seventh in the latest AVCA/TaraFlex Division I Poll ... Penn State holds a 3-0 record with a 3-1 win over then-No. 15 Tennessee and sweeps of Temple and No. 4 Louisville.

• Penn State is another strong attacking squad, entering the weekend ranked eighth nationally with a .333 hitting percentage ... Jess Mruzil is 25th nationally with a 4.63 kills-per-set average, while Camryn Hannah ranks 73rd nationally with a .418 hitting percentage.

• On defense, PSU has limited opponents to a .125 hitting mark so far this season, while averaging 2.40 blocks per.

• The last time Ball State and Penn State played, the Nittany Lions scored a 3-0 (15-8, 15-5, 18-16) victory on its home court in the second round of the 1994 NCAA Tournament on Dec. 3, 1994.

SCOUTING KENTUCKY:
• The Wildcats enter the weekend ranked ninth in the latest AVCA/TaraFlex Division I Poll ... After opening the year with a 3-1 setback to No. 2 Nebraska, Kentucky went 3-0 in its own Bluegrass Battle, earning 3-0 wins over Northern Kentucky and Morehead State, while topping Northern Kentucky 3-1.

• Kentucky is coached by former Ball State men's volleyball four-year letterwinner (1990-93) Craig Skinner ... He helped guide the BSU men's squad to a third-place finish at the 1990 NCAA Championships and was an assistant coach for the men's team from 1999-2000.

• Kentucky enters the weekend with a .266 team hitting percentage, while limiting opponents to a .111 rate of success ... UK also ranks 18th nationally with 29 service aces.

• The last time Ball State and Kentucky played, the Cardinals scored a 3-0 (15-7, 15-5, 15-13) victory in Worthen Arena on Sept. 4, 1996.

BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• Ball State enters the Kentucky Invitational with a 3-61 all-time record versus ranked opponents ... The Cardinals' last win over a ranked foe came Nov. 11, 2003, when it rallied from two sets down to score a 3-2 (23-30, 29-31, 30-21, 30-26, 18-16) victory at then-No. 17 Louisville ... The only time Ball State defeated a top 10 ranked opponent was Sept. 9, 1995, when it earned a 3-2 (15-8, 3-15, 5-15, 15-11, 15-13) win versus then-No. 8 Pacific.

• Megan Wielonski continued to shine opening weekend, raising her career assist total to 4,113 ... The total, which ranks sixth in program history, is currently third among active NCAA Division I players ... Western Michigan's Logan Case is first at 5,195, while Colorado State's Emery Herman is second at 4,280 ... 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 151 career aces ... The total, which includes seven aces opening weekend, currently ranks ninth 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 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 was credited with 18 more digs opening weekend, raising her career total to 1,039 which is 20th in program history ... 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 picked up right where she left off last season, leading the Ball State offense with 33 kills and a 3.67 kills-per-set average opening weekend ... Last season, she finished the year ranked 32nd nationally with a 4.12 kills-per-set average ... Over her career, Kennedy has smashed double-digit kills in 27 matches, while leading the team in kills in 24 outings ... In BSU's four-set win over Akron (Oct. 13).

• Aniya Kennedy registered a career-high 25 kills in two matches last season, versus Akron (Oct. 13, 2023) and at WMU (Nov. 3, 2023), which were the most 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 ... Add 20 kills in last Saturday's match at FAU and Kennedy has nine career matches with 20-or-more kills which is the eighth-most in program history.

• Freshman libero Sophie Ledbetter shined in her first collegiate action, leading the squad with a 4.63 digs-per-set average at the Florida Atlantic Invitational ... The effort included a career-high 20 digs versus Bryant (Aug. 30), with 10 of those digs coming in the opening set ... Ledbetter also finished opening weekend with a .907 reception percentage, including perfect marks in both of last Friday's sweeps.

• Freshman defensive specialist Elizabeth Tabeling also made a big impact in the back row for the Cardinals last weekend, ranking second on the squad with 25 digs for a 2.78 digs-per-set average ... The effort included a career-high 10 digs in the sweep of Bryant (Aug. 30).

• Sophomore Camryn Wise also turned in a solid opening weekend, leading the Ball State offense with a .667 (16-0-24) attack percentage, including a match-high nine kills in two sets versus Seton Hall (Aug. 30) ... Last season, Wise found a home in the middle of the court over the final 12 weeks, boasting a team-leading 1.09 blocks-per-set average ... The mark ranked second among all league players and 116th nationally ... She added four blocks in BSU's first three matches this season and has a 1.04 career blocks-per-set average.

• Graduate transfer middle Aayinde Smith also made a huge impact opening weekend, leading the Cardinals with a 55th nationally with a 1.44 blocks-per-set average ... She was just as solid on offense, hitting .394 (17-4-33) over the three matches ... Her best outing came versus Bryant (Aug. 30), when she smashed a match-high nine kills and was credited with a match-best six total blocks.

• Looking at Ball State's defense as a whole, the Cardinals limited its opponents to a .144 attack percentage opening weekend, including a -.020 (24-26-99) mark for Bryant (Aug. 30) ... 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

Aniya Kennedy

Sophie Ledbetter

Aayinde Smith

Elizabeth Tabeling

Megan Wielonski

Camryn Wise