Ball State University
Purdue Fort Wayne
No. 8 Men's Volleyball Opens Conference Play at Home Against Purdue Fort Wayne
February 05, 2025 | Men's Volleyball
No. 8 Ball State (7-3) vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (5-2)
Last Meeting: Ball State 3, Purdue Fort Wayne 2 (3/23/24)
Series History:Â Ball State leads the series 37-12
This Week in Ball State Men's Volleyball: The Cardinals enter conference play this week, welcoming Purdue Fort Wayne Thursday (Feb. 6) evening for a 7 p.m. first serve.Â
Last Serve: Most recently, the Cardinals are coming off a two-match sweep over Tusculum. In match one, the Cardinals' secured a 3-0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-22) victory under the lead of Patrick Rogers. Rogers hit a .600 average while adding 10 kills and five aces, a new single-game personal record. Ryan Louis was the star of match two's 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-18) win, hitting a collegiate-best .667 percentage and adding 11 kills. Defensively, Rogers was a major contributor both nights, adding a total of 11 digs and two blocks.Â
First Serve vs Purdue Fort Wayne: Ball State went 2-0 over Purdue Fort Wayne last season and is currently on a nine-match win streak over the Mastodons. Purdue Fort Wayne's last victory over the Cardinals was on their home court in 2020 when they came away with a 3-1 advantage. In the two teams' most recent meeting, Ball State walked away with the win after a hard-fought 3-2 (18-25, 25-23, 26-24, 29-27, 15-11) battle. Tinaishe Ndavazocheva led the charge, recording 25 kills and hitting .364 from the floor. If the Cardinals come out on top of Thursday's match they will tie their longest winning streak over the Mastodons with 10 wins.Â
Scouting Purdue Fort Wayne: Purdue Fort Wayne is coming off two wins from the Harvard Invitational (Jan. 31-Feb 1). They opened the tournament playing Saint Francis (Pa.), defeating the Red Flash 3-0 (31-29, 25-22, 25-19). The following day, they took down Harvard in another 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 30-28) sweep. Currently leading the Mastodons offense is Axel Melendez-Watts who totals 95 kills on the season. With a hitting percentage of .377, Melendez-Watts ranks fourth in the MIVA. Caleb Lipscomb is the team's top defender, totaling 26 blocks, the fourth highest among the conference. As a team, Purdue Fort Wayne is ranked second in the MIVA for service aces on the season, averaging 1.89 per set with a total of 36.Â
Ball State in the MIVA: The Cardinals are currently among the top of the MIVA standings in multiple categories. For points and blocks, Ball State is ranked second in the conference, totaling 524.5 (16.62/s) and 84.5 (2.73/s) respectively. They are also third in the MIVA for hitting percentage and kills, marking a .346 clip with 428 (12.6/s) total kills on the season so far.Â
MIVA Leaders: There are multiple Cardinals being represented in the MIVA leaderboards. Going into conference play, Vanis Buckholz is ranked second for blocks on the season with a recorded 33 and an average of 1.32 per set. Lucas Machado is also ranked top five in the MIVA, having the fourth highest assists per set average with 9.86, totaling 286 through week five.Â
Ball State in the NCAA: Ball State is among the winningest men's volleyball teams in the NCAA. Currently, the Cardinals have the fifth highest all-time winning percentage at .701 (1283-546). Loyola is fourth at .701 (577-246), Ohio State third at .703 (1189-502), Penn State second at .755 and UCLA leads the NCAA with the highest winning percentage of .793 (1482-387). Ball State is 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 are 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 ninth in the NCAA for blocks per set with a 2.618 average and eighth for hitting percentage at .347.Â
NCAA Leaders: With his 1.32 blocks per set average, Vanis Buckholz finds himself ranked eighth in the NCAA.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 71-26 (.732) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, three MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.Â
Looking Ahead: Next up, the Cardinals will prepare to welcome Lewis for two matches on Thursday, Feb. 13 and Friday, Feb. 14. Friday's match will feature buy-one-get-one tickets and a red out for Valentine's Day.Â
