Volleyball Set To Host Ohio for Dig Pink & Chirp or Treat

Ball State (13-8; 9-0 MAC) hosts Ohio (7-14, 5-4 MAC)
Match 22 - vs. Ohio	Friday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. ET ESPN+ \| Live Stats PROMOTIONS: Dig Pink Night
Match 23 - vs. Ohio	Saturday, Oct. 24 at 4 p.m. ET ESPN+ \| Live Stats PROMOTIONS: Chirp or Treat
Notes	Ball State \| Ohio
Social Media	X (Twitter) \| Instagram

THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL: The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to Worthen Arena for the next three matches, starting with a weekend series versus Ohio ... The Cardinals and Bobcats are set to square off at 6 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday.

THIS WEEK'S PROMOTIONS: Friday's match will be the Cardinals' annual Dig Pink with the first 200 fans in attendance receiving a FREE PINK STRESS BALL to support breast cancer awareness ... Saturday will be the Cardinals annual Chirp-or-Treat match ... Young fans can come dressed in their costumes and enjoy a little pre-Halloween FUN starting at 3 p.m. with candy being handed out on the concourse by our other sports teams and spirit squads courtesy of Ball State SAAC ... Prizes will be awarded for the best kids Halloween costume between sets two and three.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans unable to attend this weekend's matches in person have several ways to follow the #MACtion ... Both contests will be broadcast live on ESPN+ ... Live stats will be available courtesy of Ball State athletics ... Updates from the matches will also be provided on the team's X feed and Instagram story: @BallStateWVB.

MAC PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATION: Ball State women's volleyball team received 102 points in the league's annual coaches' poll, trailing only defending regular season champion Bowling Green (119) ... With coaches unable to vote for their own teams, BGSU earned 10 of the 12 votes to win the MAC regular season title, with the Cardinals claiming the other two ... The Falcons were also selected as the favorite to win the MAC Volleyball Championship with 10 votes, while Buffalo and Central Michigan each garnered one vote.

PRESEASON HONORS: In addition to the team rankings, the MAC announced its annual Preseason All-MAC Team ... Representing Ball State are sophomore outside Carson Tyler and sophomore libero Sophie Ledbetter ... Tyler was named the 2024 MAC and AVCA Midwest Region Freshman of the Year after ranking first on the team and seventh in the league with a 3.34 kills-per-set average last season ... Ledbetter earned a nod on the 2024 MAC All-Freshman team after leading the squad and ranking 10th in the MAC with a 3.68 digs-per-set average.

BALL STATE ALL-TIME: Ball State enters Friday's match versus Ohio with a 1047-666-2 (.611) all-time record in women's volleyball ... Ball State became the 44th program in NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball history to reach 1,000 wins with a sweep of Central Michigan on Sept. 22, 2023 ... All-time, the Cardinals have captured 12 MAC West Division Championships, 10 MAC Regular Season Championships and eight MAC Volleyball Championship titles ... Ball State has made 11 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including three of the last six seasons ... BSU has also earned two bids into the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC).

WHEN IN WORTHEN: The Cardinals boast a 328-103 (.761) all-time record inside Worthen Arena, including an 84-41 (.672) mark against non-conference foes and a 244-62 (.797) ledger versus league foes ... Overall, no MAC opponent owns a winning record inside Worthen Arena, as the Cardinals have at least a .630 winning percentage against all league schools on its current home floor ... Up next in Worthen will be Ohio (Oct. 24-25) who is 7-13 (.350) all-time in the building.

BALL STATE IN THE MAC: With a perfect 9-0 record in MAC play this season, Ball State maintains its status as the winningest program in league play with a 468-225 (.675) all-time MAC mark ... Western Michigan is second on the list, five matches behind the Cardinals at 463-230 (.668), while this week's opponent Ohio is sixth based on winning percentage at 397-294 (.575).

MORE ABOUT THE 9-0 START TO #MACtion: The 2025 season marks the sixth time in program history the Cardinals have won at least its first nine MAC matches of the year ... The last time was in 2023 when Ball State got off to a 9-0 start, on its way to a 15-3 league finish ... The Cardinals have boasted two perfect MAC seasons, going 18-0 in 1993 and 17-0 in 1994 ... BSU also won the first 10 matches of the 1997 campaign and the first nine matches in 2000.

SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• The Cardinals enter the weekend with a 13-8 overall record, including a perfect 9-0 mark in Mid-American Conference play ... The lone remaining undefeated team in #MACtion, Ball State earned a pair of road wins at Bowling Green last week, with a 3-2 victory Thursday and a 3-0 win Friday.
• Thanks to its sweep at BGSU last week, the Cardinals climbed six spots in the latest NCAA RPI Rankings, coming in at 45 this week after ranking 77th in the initial rankings and 51st last week ... Ball State is the highest ranked MAC team, with Toledo coming in second at 80.
• Ball State enters the week as one of the nation's top terminating teams, ranking third nationally with 1,159 total kills ... Only Valparaiso (1,217) and Towson (1,200) have more kills than the Cardinals ... 369 of Ball State's kills, which is second nationally, have come from the arm of sophomore outside Carson Tyler who also ranks first in the MAC and 29th nationally with a 4.34 kills-per-set average.
• In addition, the Cardinals lead the MAC and rank 37th nationally with a .259 team attack percentage ... Junior middle Camryn Wise is first in the league and 56th nationally with a .375 rate of success, while junior setter Lindsey Green ranks 89th nationally with 633 total assists and owns a 7.54 assists-per-set average.

SCOUTING OHIO:
• The Bobcats enter the week with a 7-14 overall record, including a 5-4 mark in MAC play ... Last week, Ohio earned 3-2 and 3-1 wins over Eastern Michigan to run its current winning streak to five matches which is the second-longest active win streak in the league behind Ball State's nine straight match wins.
• Ohio ranks seventh in the MAC in the NCAA RPI Rankings at 203, climbing 49 spots from 252 since the start of its current five-match winning streak ... Ohio's best wins so far this season were back-to-back victories over Miami who is currently ranked 187th.
• The Bobcats enter the week as one of the nation's top serving teams, ranking second in the MAC and 51st nationally at 1.75 aces per set ... Mady Long ranks second in the MAC and 60th nationally at 0.43 aces per set, while Bryn Janke is third in the league and 90th nationally at 0.41 ... Ohio has served up 142 total aces which is 26th nationally.
• At 2.88 kills per set, Bailey Blair leads a quartet of Bobcats averaging at least 2.25 for the season ... She has a team-high 233 kills and has reached double figures in each of Ohio's last four matches ... Kendall Hickey leads the OU backcourt at 2.76 digs per set.
• The Cardinals currently hold a 44-21 lead in the all-time series versus Ohio including three straight wins ... Last season, Ball State earned a hard-fought 3-2 (19-25, 25-16, 25-12, 23-25, 15-11) victory in Athens ... The Cardinals hold a 20-8 advantage over the Bobcats in matches played in Muncie, including four straight wins ... Ohio, which is 7-13 all-time in Worthen Arena, has not won in Muncie since a 3-2 (25-11, 16-25, 20-25, 32-30, 15-11) victory on Oct. 15, 2016.

BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• Sophomore outside Carson Tyler has been one of the nation's top attackers so far this season, ranking second nationally with 369 kills for a MAC-best 4.34 kills-per-set average ... She has reached double-digit kills in 20 matches so far this season, including a career-high 29 kills versus Toledo (Oct. 10), 28 kills versus Cincinnati (Sept. 18), 26 kills versus James Madison (Sept. 14) and 21 kills at UConn (Sept. 5) ... Last season, Tyler averaged 3.34 kills per set to become the first player in program history to earn AVCA Midwest Region Freshman of the Year accolades.

• With double-digit kills in 20 matches this season, Carson Tyler has raised her career total to 42 matches ... She needs one more match in double figures to break into the top 20 in program history at 43 ... In addition, Tyler is one of just nine players in program history to register 20-or-more kills in at least 10 career matches, with last Thursday's match at Bowling Green being her 12th.

• A six-rotation player, Carson Tyler is currently second on the squad with 217 digs ... She has recorded kill/dig double-doubles in 12 matches this season, with her latest coming in last Thursday's 3-2 win at Bowling Green ... Tyler registered a career-high 19 digs in the win at Marquette (Sept. 12) and collected 18 versus Cal Poly (Aug. 31) and James Madison (Sept. 14) ... Tyler also leads Ball State's primary passers with a .966 reception percentage, successfully passing 453 of the 469 serves she has faced ... Tyler also led the Cardinals' primary passers with a .963 reception percentage last season by successfully passing 650 of the team-high 675 serves she faced.

• Graduate outside Noelle VanOort has made quite an impact playing for the Cardinals, smashing 259 total kills, collecting 170 digs and hitting .230 (259-90-735) ... A member of the Golden Gopher Invitational All-Tournament Team, VanOort has tallied double digit kills in 16 of BSU's 21 matches, including a season-high 20 kills twice ... Throw in 97 matches with double-figure kills during her four-year career at Indiana Tech and VanOort has been credited with at least 10 kills in 113 collegiate matches ... She has also raised her collegiate total to 11 matches with 20+ kills, including a 20/20 effort Nov. 5, 2022, with 23 kills and 25 digs versus Siena Heights.

• Noelle VanOort has been just as solid on defense through the first eight weeks, earning double-digit digs seven times, including a season-high 23 vs. Cincinnati (Sept. 18) ... The effort has raised her career total to 97 matches with double-digit digs, including her 90 at Indiana Tech ... It also helped her raise her collegiate kill/dig double-double total to 74, including six with Ball State and 68 with the Warriors.

• Prior to arriving at Ball State, Noelle VanOort finished her four-year playing career at Indiana Tech (2021-24) as a two-time NAIA Third Team All-American ... Her 1,724 career kills ranked second in program history, while her 1,648 career digs were sixth ... She also set the program standard with 282 career service aces ... She has continued to find success in her first five weeks playing for the Cardinals and enters the week with 1983 kills, 1828 digs and 293 aces over her collegiate career.

• With 20 kills each in the Aug. 31 match versus Cal Poly, Noelle VanOort and Carson Tyler became the first Ball State duo to record 20-or-more kills in the same match since the 2007 season ... Brittany May and Julie Breivogel were the last players to do so with 21 and 20 kills, respectively, in an Oct. 5, 2027 match versus Western Michigan.

• Sophomore libero Sophie Ledbetter paces the Ball State defense with 334 digs and a 3.93 digs-per-set average this season ... Both marks currently rank third among MAC defenders ... Ledbetter has recorded double-digit digs in 19 of BSU's 21 matches, upping her career total to 42 ... The effort includes a career-high tying 27 digs versus Eastern Kentucky (Sept. 20) and 26 digs in the season-opener versus St. Thomas (Aug. 29).

• Sophie Ledbetter earned her first collegiate double-double versus Cal Poly (Aug. 31), handing out 10 assists to go along with her 14 digs.

• Junior Lindsey Green and freshman Reese Axness have combined to lead the Ball State offense to a .259 attack percentage this season which is first in the MAC and 37th nationally ... The mark includes a .279 rate of success over the team's nine MAC matches ... Green, who dished out a career-high 51 assists twice this season, currently ranks eighth in the MAC with a 7.54 assists-per-set average, with her 633 total assists ranking 89th nationally ... She also leads the squad with 26 service aces ... Axness, meanwhile, enters the week with a 4.43 assists-per-set average and has served up 11 aces.

• Junior middle Gwen Crull has turned up the offensive heat over the last five weeks, reaching double-digit kills for the first six times in her collegiate career ... Her best match came at Miami (Oct. 7), when she smashed a career-high 13 kills and hit .522 (13-1-23) ... She has also collected 12 kills on two occasions; vs. Cincinnati (Sept. 18) and at Akron (Sept. 26) ... During Ball State's current nine-match winning streak, Crull is second on the squad with a .395 (74-14-152) attack percentage, which ranks fifth in the MAC during the span ... She also leads the squad with a 0.87 blocks-per-set average this season, including a team-high 12 solo blocks.

• Junior middle Camryn Wise enters the week leading the Mid-American Conference with a .375 attack percentage ... She has hit .300-or-better in 15 of the team's 21 matches, paced by a .579 (12-1-19) rate of success at Marquette (Sept. 12) ... Looking at just league matches, Wise's mark jumps up to .415 with just seven errors on 130 swings, to go along with 61 kills ... Wise has hit at least .385 in seven MAC outings, starting with a .545 (6-0-11) effort at Buffalo (Sept. 25).

• Sophomore Tiffany Snook is starting to find her grove on the right side, ranking third on the squad in league play with 75 kills and a 2.27 kills-per-set average ... The effort included a career-high 17 kills and a .433 (17-4-30) attack percentage versus Toledo (Oct. 10) ... She also secured 11 kills at Akron (Sept. 26) and has registered at least six kills in eight of Ball State's nine league matches.

• Roster Update: Senior opposite Madison Buckley and redshirt junior outside attacker Aniya Kennedy will both miss the 2025 season as medical redshirts … Buckley was a 2024 First Team All-MAC selection after ranking second on the team in total blocks (90.0) and third in total kills (276) last season … Kennedy, the 2023 MAC Freshman of the Year and First Team All-MAC selection, ranked second on the squad with 279 kills last season and chipped in 43 total blocks.

Volleyball Set To Host Ohio for Dig Pink & Chirp or Treat

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Players Mentioned

Reese Axness

Madison Buckley

Gwen Crull

Lindsey Green

Aniya Kennedy

Sophie Ledbetter

Tiffany Snook

Carson Tyler

Noelle VanOort

Camryn Wise