Men's Volleyball Set to Compete in Hawaii's 29th Annual Outrigger Tournament

No. 12 Ball State Men's Volleyball (13-6; 6-3 MIVA) at Outrigger Invite
Match 20 vs. No. 3 Hawai'i (17-1; 2-0 BW)	Thursday, Mar. 13 at 7 p.m. HT Live Stats \| ESPN+
Match 21 vs. No. 5 USC (13-2; 4-0 MPSF)	Friday, Mar. 14 at 4 p.m. HT Live Stats \| Will not be streamed
Match 22 vs. No. 19 Penn State (5-10; 2-2 EIVA)	Saturday, Mar. 15 at 4 p.m. HT Live Stats \| Will not be streamed
Game Notes	Ball State \| Hawai'i \| USC \| Penn State
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No. 12 Ball State (13-6, 6-3 MIVA) vs No. 3 Hawaii (17-1, 2-0 BW)
Last Meeting: Hawaii 3, Ball State 1 (1/28/24)
Series History: Hawaii leads the series 12-3

No. 12 Ball State (13-6, 6-3 MIVA) vs No. 5 USC (13-2, 4-0 MPSF)
Last Meeting: USC 3, Ball State 1 (1/19/24)
Series History: USC leads the series 9-2

No. 12 Ball State (13-6, 6-3 MIVA) vs No. 19 Penn State (5-10, 2-2 EIVA)
Last Meeting: Penn State 3, Ball State 0 (2/2/24)
Series History: Penn State leads the series 21-9

This Week in Ball State Men's Volleyball: Ball State will compete in the University of Hawaii's Outrigger Invitational Tournament. The Cardinals will open play on Thursday against Hawaii, then take on USC Friday evening, and close the tournament facing Penn State on Saturday.

Last Serve:
• The Cardinals opened last week on the road at Quincy. Ball State was able to defeat the Hawks 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 26-24, 25-23) to move to 6-2 in conference play. In his first match against his previous school, Rajé Alleyne put up 14 kills, two aces and four blocks.

• Finishing the week, Ball State hosted Loyola Chicago. Despite taking the first set, the Ramblers were able to defeat the Cardinals 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-20).

First Serve vs Hawaii:
• Last season, Ball State hosted the Rainbow Warriors for a single match in Worthen Arena. Hawaii defeated the Cardinals 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 25-19), the team's fourth consecutive win over the Cardinals.

• Tinaishe Ndavazocheva and Braydon Savitski-Lynde led the Cardinals their last time out against the Rainbow Warriors, each recording 16 kills.

• The Cardinals are 1-10 on the road at the University of Hawaii. Ball State's last win in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center came in 2011 when the 14th-ranked Cardinals swept the fifth-ranked Rainbow Warriors for their first ever win against the hosting team in the Outrigger Tournament.

• Ball State is 1-6 against Hawaii in the Outrigger Tournament.

Scouting Hawaii:
• The No. 3 Rainbow Warriors are coming off a two-match victory over MIVA competitor, Lindenwood. Hawaii swept the Lions 3-0 (25-13, 25-10, 27-25) in match one, and dropped one set for a 3-1 (25-16, 23-25, 27-25, 25-23) victory in match two.

• Hawaii is second in the Big West standings, falling behind No. 1 Long Beach State.

• As a team, Hawaii currently leads the Big West in assists, averaging 12.48 assists per set with a total of 836. Hawaii also leads in kills, averaging 13.37 kills per set with a total of 896. Their numbers rank them sixth and second in the NCAA as well.

• The team is ranked second in the conference for points (17.80 avg/set), hitting percentage (.359) and blocks (2.49 avg/set).

• In the NCAA, the Trojans are ranked sixth for hitting percentage and third for blocks.

• Sophomore setter, Tread Rosenthal, leads the conference in assists and is third in the NCAA, averaging 10.89 per set with a total of 689.

• Freshman opposite, Kristian Titriyski, is third in the conference and fifth in the NCAA for kills, averaging 4.23 kills per set with a total of 237 so far on the season. Titriyski is also a leader in points, ranking third in the conference and fourth in the NCAA with 287.5 total and an average of 5.13 per set.

First Serve vs USC:
• Friday's match will be the 12th time Ball State and USC will meet. The two programs last met in the 2024 season at the First Point Collegiate Challenge in Austin Texas. USC won the match 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-21).

• Tinaishe Ndavazocheva had a stellar match against the Trojans last year, recording 23 kills, six aces, and two blocks.

Scouting USC:
• USC is coming off four straight conference wins over Vanguard and BYU. The Trojans swept Vanguard in both matches, then had a victorious five set thriller against BYU before sweeping the Cougars the next night.

• The Trojans' only losses on the season have come from UC Irvine (2-3, 0-3).

• In the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), USC leads in the conference standings, followed by No. 2 UCLA and No. 9 Pepperdine.

• As a team, USC is a leading force in conference rankings. The Trojans lead the MPSF in hitting percentage (.392), assists (12.66 avg/set), kills (13.74 avg/set), blocks (2.92 avg/set) and digs (9.26 avg/set).

• The Trojans dominate in the NCAA rankings as well, leading in assists, blocks and kills, and ranking second in hitting percentage.

• Individual conference leaders for the Trojans include outside hitter Dylan Klein in kills (4.16 avg/set), setter Caleb Blanchette in assists (11.35 avg/set), middle blocker Guy Genis in blocks (1.19 avg/set) and libero Johnny Dykstra in digs (2.37 avg/set). Blanchette is also the overall NCAA assist leader.

First Serve vs Penn State:
• The Cardinals hosted Penn State last season, falling 3-0 (24-26, 22-25, 19-25) to the visiting Nittany Lions.

• Prior to the loss last season, Ball State had won the last two matches against Penn State in 2019 and 2020.

• In the last 10 matchups, Ball State leads the Nittany Lions 6-4.

Scouting PENN State:
• Penn State is coming off two losses to GCU, both 3-0 sweeps. The team's last win was against Merrimack with the Nittany Lions defeating the Warriors 3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-18, 25-16).

• The Nittany Lions are 0-2 against MIVA schools this season, dropping 1-3 (17-25, 25-22, 20-25, 21-25) to Loyola Chicago and 0-3 (15-25, 15-25, 22-25) to Lewis earlier in the year.

• In the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) standings, Penn State is fifth behind Charleston, Harvard, George Mason and No. 19 Princeton.

• Penn State leads the conference in blocks, totaling 121.5 on the season and averaging 2.43 blocks per set.

• Individually, senior outside hitter, Will Kuhns, is ranked third in the EIVA for points, totaling 184.5 and averaging 3.77 points per set.

Ball State in the MIVA:
• Ball State continues to lead the MIVA in blocks, averaging 2.459 blocks per set with a current total of 179.5 on the season.

• The team is also second in points earned, recording 1145 and averaging 16.36 points per set.

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.

• As a team, Ball State goes into the week ranked seventh in the NCAA for blocks. The team also holds the ninth highest hitting percentage in the NCAA and is ranked 10th for kills per set.

Team Leaders:
• Defensively, middle blockers Vanis Buckholz and Braydon Savitski-Lynde are ranked fourth and sixth in the conference for blocks. Buckholz averages 1.039 blocks per set with a total of 53, placing him 19th in the NCAA. Savitski-Lynde averages .915 blocks per set and has recorded a total of 54 on the season.

• Senior opposite, Rajé Alleyne, is ranked fifth in the MIVA for kills. Alleyne has 199 kills on the season, averaging 3.62 kills per set.

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 77-29 (.726) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, three MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Looking Ahead: Following the tournament, the Cardinals will get back on the road for a pair of matches against Queens in Charlotte, North Carolina on Mar. 20 and Mar. 22.

Men's Volleyball Set to Compete in Hawaii's 29th Annual Outrigger Tournament

Players Mentioned

Vanis Buckholz

Tinaishe Ndavazocheva

Braydon Savitski-Lynde

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