Ball State University
Lewis University
No. 9 Cardinals Welcome No. 14 Lewis Thursday and Friday
February 12, 2025 | Men's Volleyball
| No. 9 Ball State Men's Volleyball (8-3; 1-0 MIVA) hosts No. 14 Lewis (8-3; 1-1 MIVA) | |
| Match 12 - hosts Lewis | Thursday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. ET Live Results  |  ESPN+ | Purchase Tickets Here |
| Match 13 - hosts Lewis | Friday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. ET Live Results  |  ESPN+ | Purchase Tickets Here | Valentine's Day Red Out |
| Notes | Ball State |
| Social Media | Twitter  |  Instagram |
No. 9 Ball State (8-3; 1-0 MIVA) vs. No. 14 Lewis (8-3; 1-1 MIVA)
Last Meeting: Lewis 3, Ball State 2 (3/3024)
Series History:Â Lewis leads the series 29-25
This Week in Ball State Men's Volleyball: Ball State will welcome Lewis to Worthen Arena Thursday (Feb. 13) and Friday (Feb. 14) for a top-20 conference matchup. In honor of Valentine's Day, Friday's match will offer buy-one-get-one-free tickets and a red out for fans to participate in.Â
Last Serve: Last week, the Cardinals hosted Purdue Fort Wayne for their opening Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association match. The Mastodons forced a five-set match, but the Cardinals were able to secure the 3-2 (25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-13) victory. Ball State was led by the efforts of Patrick Rogers and Tinaishe Ndavazocheva. Rogers recorded 19 kills, three blocks and five digs while hitting at a .324 percentage. Ndavazocheva hit .531 from the floor, totaling 18 kills, two aces and three blocks. Assisting the Cardinals in their win was Lucas Machado who tallied a career single-game best 54 kills.Â
First Serve vs Lewis: Last season, Ball State split 1-1 with Lewis in two five-set matches on the road, winning the first 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 25-21, 26-28, 15-13) before falling 2-3 (25-18, 19-25, 19-25, 27-25, 12-15) later in the weekend. Tiniashe Ndavazocheva led both matches, recording 43 total kills. The Cardinals currently have a 16-9 home record over the Flyers with their last Worthen win being a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-18) sweep in 2023. Â
Scouting Lewis: The Flyers are currently 8-3 overall with a 1-1 MIVA record. Lewis opened conference play last week welcoming Lindenwood (Feb. 5) and McKendree (Feb. 8) to Neil Carey Arena. They won the opening match against the Lions 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 23-25, 25-21) under the offensive leadership of Oguzhan Oguz who hit .514 with 21 kills. Later that week, they dropped a match to McKenree in a 1-3 (18-25, 24-26, 25-23, 28-30) loss. Oguz led the team again, hitting .400 (21-3-45), along with Max Roquet who hit .386 (21-4-44). In the MIVA, Lewis currently leads the conference in assists and kills. The Flyers have totaled 487 assists so far this season, averaging 12.49 assists per set. For kills, they have a recorded 522, averaging 13.38 kills per set. The Flyers also have an individual leader in the MIVA rankings as Nico Paula currently leads the conference in digs with 101 total and a 2.73 digs-per-set average.Â
Ball State in the MIVA: The Cardinals are currently among the top of the MIVA standings in multiple categories. The team is second in points, totaling 607.5 with an average of 16.88 points per set. Ball State is also ranked second in the conference for blocks with a total of 96.5, averaging 2.68 blocks per set. Looking at hitting percentage, Ball State ranks third with a .340 (453-130-951) clip. The Cardinals rank third in services aces as well, adding 58 on the season while averaging 1.61 aces per set. Â
MIVA Leaders: There are multiple Cardinals being represented in the MIVA leaderboards. After one week of conference play, Tinaishe Ndavazocheva ranks fourth with a hitting percentage of .367 (83-17-180). Lucas Machado is ranked fifth in the MIVA for assists with a recorded 324 and an average of 10.13 assists per set. Defensively, Vanis Buckholz ranks fifth for blocks on the season, totaling 33 and averaging 1.10 blocks per set. Â
Ball State in the NCAA: Ball State is among the winningest men's volleyball teams in the NCAA. Going into the 2025 season, the Cardinals claimed the fifth highest all-time winning percentage at .701 (1283-546). Loyola was fourth at .701 (577-246), Ohio State third at .703 (1189-502), Penn State second at .755 and UCLA led the NCAA with the highest winning percentage of .793 (1482-387). Ball State was also ranked fifth for the most amount of wins from a program in the last five years with 88 wins and a .704 percentage. Rounding out the top five were Lincoln Memorial with 89 wins, UCLA with 104, Penn State with 106 and Hawaii leading the past five years with 111 program wins.Â
As a team, Ball State goes into the week ranked sixth in the NCAA for blocks per set with a 2.590 average and seventh for hitting percentage at .348.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 72-26 (.735) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, three MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.Â
Looking Ahead: After a nine game homestand, Ball State men's volleyball will hit the road again next week for matches against Lindenwood and McKendree. The Cardinals will head to St. Charles, Missouri on Thursday (Feb. 20) to take on the Lions, then to Lebanon, Illinois on Saturday (Feb. 22) for a match against the Bearcats. Â
