MVB Hosts Quincy Friday, McKendree Saturday

No. 14 Ball State Men's Volleyball (16-8; 8-3 MIVA) vs Quincy (7-13, 1-9 MIVA) / No. 10 McKendree (15-5, 10-1 MIVA)
Match 25 vs. Quincy	Friday, Mar. 28 at 7 p.m. ET Live Stats \| ESPN+ \| Tickets
Match 26 vs. No. 10 McKendree	Saturday, Mar. 29 at 5 p.m. ET Live Stats \| ESPN+ \| Tickets
Game Notes	Ball State \| Quincy \| McKendree
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No. 14 Ball State (16-8, 8-3 MIVA) vs Quincy (7-13, 1-9 MIVA)
Last Meeting: Ball State 3, Quincy 1 (3/4/25)
Series History (Since 2002): Ball State leads the series 49-3

No. 14 Ball State (16-8, 8-3 MIVA) vs No. 10 McKendree (15-5, 10-1 MIVA)

Last Meeting: Ball State 2, McKendree 3 (2/22/25)
Series History: Ball State leads the series 16-8

This Week in Ball State Men's Volleyball: The No. 14 Ball State Cardinals will return to Worthen Arena Friday and Saturday to host MIVA foes Quincy and No. 10 McKendree. The Cardinals and Hawks will go head to head Friday evening at 7 p.m., then match two with the Bearcats will take place Saturday for a 5 p.m. first serve. Saturday will also feature senior and alumni night with senior recognition taking place on the court immediately following the end of the match.

Last Serve:
• Ball State is returning home after two weeks on the road, visiting Honolulu, Hawaii and Charlotte, North Carolina. The Cardinals went 2-0 over Queens in the Queen City last week. Match one ended in a close five set thriller after Queens battled to extra points in the fourth to force the tiebreaker. Ball State was able to close in the fifth for a 3-2 (25-27, 25-17, 25-15, 30-32, 15-12) win. Patrick Rogers led the Cardinals' offense, dishing out 22 kills on the night at a .364 (22-6-44) clip. As a team, Ball State hit at a .384 (146-72-16) percentage while holding Queens to .280 (150-63-21). The Cardinals also outnumbered the Royals at the net, recording nine blocks in comparison to Queens' six.

• The Royals were able to open match two with another set one win. However, Ball State answered back by taking the next three to win the match 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-22). Three Cardinals recorded double digits to lead the offense to victory. At the top of the group was Tinaishe Ndavazocheva who added 22 kills at a .485 clip. Rajé Alleyne followed with 16 kills, hitting an impressive .519 along with Rogers who totaled 11 kills. The power duo of Vanis Buckholz and Savitski-Lynde once again led the Cardinals' defense, each tallying five blocks.

ZURAWSKI ON THE MOVE:
• Assisting the Cardinals' offense against Queens was sophomore setter, Peter Zurawski. Zurawski had an outstanding week, recording a total of 112 assists, 21 digs and five kills. In match one, Zurawski put up a personal best 60 assists and 13 digs for his first career double double. The impressive numbers put up by Zurawski have propelled the Cardinals from 18th to 13th in the NCAA for assists, now averaging 11.55 assists per set as a team.

First Serve vs Quincy:

• The Cardinals last saw the Hawks on the road in Quincy, Illinois earlier this season before hitting the road to Hawaii for the Outrigger Tournament. Ball State won the matchup 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 26-24, 25-23), extending its current win streak over Quincy to 20.

• The road trip to Quincy was senior opposite, Rajé Alleyne's, first time playing against his previous team. Alleyne put up 14 kills, two aces and four digs for his return.

Scouting Quincy:
• The Hawks are currently on a three match losing streak, coming off a 1-3 (19-25, 22-25, 25-21, 20-25) loss to Lindenwood, a close 2-3 (23-25, 25-22, 16-25, 25-23, 14-16) loss to Purdue Fort Wayne and most recently, a 1-3 (17-25, 26-24, 19-25, 26-28) loss to McKendree.

• Quincy's sole conference win comes from the MIVA opener where the Hawks went 3-1 (25-16, 20-25, 25-20, 25-19) over Queens.

• In the MIVA, Quincy is the third-ranked team for blocks per set, averaging 2.37. The Hawks' numbers put them 14th in the NCAA.

• Sophomore middle blocker, Relja Milosavljevic, is second in the conference and in the NCAA for blocks, averaging 1.25 per set.

First Serve vs McKendree:
• Earlier this season, the Cardinals and the Bearcats saw a back and forth five-set match in Lebanon, Illinois. McKendree was able to pull off the upset in the fifth frame, taking the match 3-2 (26-24, 23-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-10). Freshman opposite, Ryan Louis, was the offensive lead for the Cardinals, adding a career high 21 kills.

Scouting McKendree:
• McKendree's Nate Flayter won his third player of the week honor this week, after racking up 25 digs and six blocks in his past two matches.

• The Bearcats are currently on a 12 match win streak. The team's last loss was dished from MIVA opponent, No. 7 Loyola Chicago, who swept McKendree 3-0 (25-21, 27-25, 26-24).

• McKendree leads the conference and is second in the NCAA for digs, currently averaging 10.58 digs per set. Offensively, the team is second in the MIVA for assists and kills. McKendree averages 12.01 assists per set and 12.82 kills per set, second to Loyola Chicago in both categories. In the NCAA, the team is fourth for assists and sixth for kills.

• Senior middle blocker, D'Aaron McCraney, leads the conference with a .436 hitting percentage. His numbers place his fourth in the NCAA.

• Sophomore setter, Nate Flayter, is currently third in the conference and 10th in the NCAA for assists, averaging 10.16 per set. Flayter is also third in the MIVA and 15th in the NCAA for digs, averaging 2.24 per set.

• Also among the leaders in digs is junior libero, Yadiel Diaz. Diaz is second in the MIVA and 12th in the NCAA, averaging 2.33 digs 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.

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 80-31 (.721) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, three MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Looking ahead:
• Following this weekend, the Cardinals will head to Columbus, Ohio for a match against the Buckeyes on Thursday, Apr. 3, then travel north to Fort Wayne, Indiana to take on Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday, Apr. 5.

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Players Mentioned

Vanis Buckholz

Ryan Louis

Tinaishe Ndavazocheva

Patrick Rogers

Peter Zurawski