Ball State University
Wabash College
No. 5 Men's Volleyball Opens 2025 Season with Two Home Matches This Weekend
January 02, 2025 | Men's Volleyball
Last Meeting: Ball State 3, Wabash 0 (1/2/24)
Series History: Ball State leads the series 2-0Â
No. 5 Ball State vs. Trine University
Last Meeting: Ball State 3, Trine 0 (1/16/24)
Series History: Ball State leads the series 1-0
Setting the Scene:Â
Coach Cruz: Ball State head coach Donan Cruz enters his fourth season at the helm of the Cardinals and owns an overall record at BSU of 64-23 (.736) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, three MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Last Season: The Cardinals closed the 2024 season 21-10. After winning the MIVA regular season title, the team fell 2-3 to #4 Lindenwood in the MIVA Semifinals. Multiple Cardinals earned postseason honors, including Cruz earning his third MIVA Coach of the Year title, Tinaishe Ndavazocheva and Patrick Rogers were named All-MIVA First Team and Lucas Machado was named All-MIVA Second Team. In the conference tournament, Ndavazocheva was named to the All-MIVA Tournament team. He also earned Second Team AVCA All-American honors along with Machado and Rogers who earned AVCA Honorable Mentions on the All-American team. Â
Match History - Wabash:Â The 2024 season marked these two teams' first time ever meeting on the court. Ball State went 2-0 against Wabash with impressive performances all around. In game one, Nathan Goh was a top offensive player for the Cardinals, recording eight kills. The Cardinals hit an impressive .618 on the floor while holding Wabash to .029. In game two, Ryan Bartz dominated at the net recording 14 kills and a block.Â
Match History - Trine: These teams met for the first time in program history in 2024. The Cardinals swept the Thunder (25-16, 25-20, 25-19), holding them at a .077 hitting percentage. Ryan Batz led the Cardinals' efforts with 16 kills, three aces, three blocks and nine digs.Â
Scouting Wabash and Trine: Wabash finished the 2024 season 15-11, a new program best. The Little Giants season ended in a 1-3 loss against Adrian College. Their offense was led by Bawibawi Thang who averaged 3.56 kills per set with a .282 hitting average. Trine finished the 2024 season 19-7, winning the MCVL Championship. They went to the NCAA DIII Tournament, losing 2-3 in the first round to #5 Loras.Â
Preseason All-MIVA:Â Â The 2025 roster welcomes back many well-known faces and also offers several exciting new additions. Two impactful returners include senior outside hitter Tinaishe Ndavazocheva and junior outside hitter Patrick Rogers. Ndavazocheva and Rogers were named to the Preseason All-MIVA team, along with Cardinal newcomer Rajé Alleyne. Alleyne, the opposite senior transfer from Quincy, brings a wealth of experience at the net. Last season, Alleyene led the MIVA in kills per set (4.41) and in points scored (421.5), averaging 5.08 points per set. He also earned First Team All-MIVA honors and AVCA All-American Honorable Mention.Â
AVCA Preseason Poll: The Cardinals enter the season ranked #5 in the AVCA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Preseason Poll with a total of 332 points. They will face nine other ranked opponents in the season, including #4 Hawai'i, #6 BYU, #7 Southern California, #8 Penn State, #11 Ohio State, #12 Loyola Chicago, #13 Stanford, #14 Lewis and #20 McKendree.Â
Looking Ahead: Next up, the Cardinals will head out to Stanford on Jan. 10-11 for their first road series.Â
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