MVB Opens MIVA Tournament Saturday at Lewis

No. 5 Ball State Men's Volleyball (17-12; 9-7 MIVA) vs No. 4 Lewis (21-8, 11-5 MIVA)
Match 30 vs. No. 6 Loyola Chicago	Saturday, Apr. 19 at 8 p.m. ET Live Stats \| W atch \| Tickets
Game Notes	Ball State \| L ewis
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Last Meeting: Lewis 3, Ball State 2 (2/14/25)
Series History (Since 1994): Ball State leads the series 39-37

This Week in Ball State Men's Volleyball: After ending the regular season 9-7 in conference play, Ball State will enter the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) tournament as the fifth seed. The team will take on No. 4 Lewis in Romeoville, Illinois on Saturday for match one. First serve is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET in Neil Carey Arena.

Regular Season Accolades:
• Three Cardinals were named to the All-MIVA Teams, including outside hitters Tinaishe Ndavazocheva and Patrick Rogers, and opposite Rajé Alleyne.

• Ndavazocheva is now a three-time All-MIVA first team honoree. This year, he was an offensive asset for the Cardinals, adding 245.5 points while averaging 3.66 points per set. He ended the regular season hitting a .382 clip with 209 recorded kills.

• Rogers is earning his second-consecutive All-MIVA First Team honors. He led the team through the regular season with 417 points, 347 kills, 33 aces and 180 digs. As a major playmaker for the Cardinals, Rogers opened the 2025 season being named the MIVA Offensive Player of the Week for the second time in his career.

• In his first year with the Cardinals, Alleyne became a huge addition to the teams' success. He earned First Team All-MIVA honors in the 2023 and 2024 seasons with Quincy as the Hawks' lead scorer. This season, Alleyne was Ball State's second highest scorer, adding 317 points, 273 kills and 19 aces. He also led the team at a 4.01 points per set average.

Tournament History:
• Prior to this season, Ball State had earned the MIVA regular season title the past three years in a row. The Cardinals' last tournament championship came in 2022 when they swept sixth-seeded Purdue Fort Wayne 3-0 to claim the title.

• In the MIVA, Ball State holds the second most championship titles with 38 total. The Cardinals have earned 23 regular season and 15 tournament championships.

Last Serve:
• The Cardinals closed the regular season on the road at Loyola Chicago. Despite falling 3-1 (23-25, 29-27, 22-25, 21-25), Ball State put up a good fight against the MIVA leaders, forcing extra points in the second set.

• Patrick Rogers led the team, adding 12 kills, 11 digs and five blocks. Tinaishe Ndavazocheva was also a big factor, recording 11 kills and seven digs on the night.

First Serve vs Lewis:
• Ball State hosted Lewis for both regular season games this season. The two teams split the series, with Ball State taking the first 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-23) and dropping match two 2-3 (25-17, 21-25, 17-25, 25-10, 12-15).

• Rajé Alleyne led the Cardinals in both matches, recording 16 kills in match one and hitting a season-high of 27 kills at an impressive .523 clip in match two.

• The Cardinals are 7-3 in their last 10 matchups against the Flyers.

• These two teams last met in the postseason in 2023 for the MIVA Semifinals. The top-seeded Cardinals swept No. 4 Lewis to move on to the championships. Ultimately, Ball State lost in the championships 1-3 to Ohio State.

• Ball State leads 8-4 over Lewis in tournament matches.

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.

Scouting Lewis:
• The Flyers are coming off a big upset over Loyola Chicago last Thursday. Lewis defeated the MIVA's top-ranked team 3-0 at home to conclude the regular season. The week prior, Lewis dropped a match to Ohio State on the road, loosing 1-3.

• In the MIVA, Lewis is ranked second for points (16.30/set), hitting percentage (.334) and digs (9.20/set). The teams' stats rank them among the top teams in the NCAA, placing them eighth for hitting percentage and 16th for digs.

• Junior opposite Oguzhan Oguz is among the conference leaders in multiple categories. Oguz is third for kills (4.01/set) and points (4.57/set), and is also ranked fifth in the MIVA for hitting percentage with a .345 clip.

• Junior libero Nico Paula is also a top MIVA player, leading the conference in digs with 275 on the season while averaging 2.57 digs per set. His numbers rank him sixth in the NCAA.

• The Flyers had five athletes named to All-MIVA teams, including Oguz to First Team and Paula to Second Team. Joining the All-MIVA Second Team honorees were Frederick Krueger-Beer, Tyler Morgan and Max Roquet.

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 81-35 (.698) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, three MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Looking ahead:
• A win would advance the Cardinals to the semifinals where they would take on the winner of No. 1 Loyola Chicago vs. No. 8 Queens. Semifinals will take place on Wednesday, April 23 and will be hosted by the two highest remaining seeded teams.

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Players Mentioned

Tinaishe Ndavazocheva

Patrick Rogers