MVB Hits the Road for Two More

No. 15 Ball State Men's Volleyball (17-9; 9-4 MIVA) vs No. 18 Ohio State (12-10, 7-5 MIVA) / Purdue Fort Wayne (10-11, 3-9 MIVA)
Match 27 vs. No. 18 Ohio State	Thursday, Apr. 3 at 7 p.m. ET Live Stats \| B1G+
Match 28 vs. Purdue Fort Wayne	Saturday, Apr. 5 at 7 p.m. ET Live Stats \| ESPN+
Game Notes	Ball State \| Ohio State \| Purdue Fort Wayne
Social Media	X \| Instagram \| Facebook

No. 15 Ball State (17-9, 9-4 MIVA) vs No. 18 Ohio State (12-10, 7-5 MIVA)
Last Meeting: Ball State 3, Ohio State 2 (2/27/25)
Series History (Since 2002): Ohio State leads the series 32-23

No. 15 Ball State (17-9, 9-4 MIVA) vs Purdue Fort Wayne (10-11, 3-9 MIVA)
Last Meeting: Ball State 3, Purdue Fort Wayne 2 (2/6/25)
Series History (Since 2002): Ball State leads the series 38-12

This Week in Ball State Men's Volleyball: Ball State opens its week on Thursday (Apr. 3) in Columbus, Ohio to take on the No. 18 Ohio State Buckeyes. Following Thursday's match, the team will head to Fort Wayne, Indiana for Saturday's (Apr. 5) matchup against Purdue Fort Wayne.

Last Serve:
• After two weeks on the road, the Cardinals returned home to host Quincy and No. 10 McKendree Friday (Mar. 28) and Saturday (Mar. 29). Despite opening the match against the Hawks in a 25-13 first set, Ball State ultimately fell 2-3 (25-13, 20-25, 25-16, 21-25, 8-15). Tinaishe Ndavazocheva still had an impressive performance as the Cardinals' offensive leader, hitting at a .382 clip with 17 kills and three aces.

• In response to the loss, Ball State returned to Worthen Saturday night to complete an upset of its own over No. 10 McKendree. For a senior night special, the Cardinals beat the Bearcats 3-1 (25-13, 24-26, 25-23, 25-23), giving the team its first top 10 win of the season. Rogers led the Cardinals in their victory, hitting a .424 clip with 20 kills. Ndavazocheva was also a major impact, adding 15 kills at a .433 clip and an ace. At the net, Ndavazocheva led the team with five block assists and one block solo.

FIRST SERVE VS OHIO STATE:
• In these two teams' first match this season, Ball State defeated the Buckeyes 3-2 (23-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-25, 15-12) at home in Worthen Arena. Patrick Rogers led the offense with 18 kills and an ace. Defensively, Vanis Buckholz, Rogers, and Braydon Savitski-Lynde protected at the net, each recording four blocks. Cameron Gray led the team in digs with nine.

• Last time the Cardinals traveled to Columbus (Mar. 14, 2024), they defeated the Buckeyes 3-1 (34-32, 15-25, 25-22, 26-24). Rogers once again led the team, recording a career best 24 kills.

Scouting Ohio State:
• Ohio State's Daniel Henwood Rodriguez won his first Player of the Week award after being named this week's Defensive Player of the Week.

• The Buckeyes are coming off a five-set victory over McKendree, upsetting the Bearcats at home in Covelli Center and snapping a two match losing streak.

• Ohio State is second in the MIVA and 12th in the NCAA for service aces. The team averages 1.65 aces per set and has recorded a total of 139 on the season.

• Senior middle blocker, Cole Young, is ranked fourth in the MIVA for his hitting percentage of .327. Immediately following in fifth is freshman outside hitter, Stanislaw Chacinski, with a .326 percentage.

• Chacinski is also fifth in the conference for aces, averaging .43 aces per set at a recorded 36.

• Junior opposite, Shane Wetzel, is fourth in the MIVA and 22nd in the NCAA for kills, averaging 3.54 kills per set. Wetzel is also fourth in the conference for aces at a .44 per set average, and fourth in the conference for points, averaging 4.23 points per set.

First Serve vs Purdue Fort Wayne:
• This season, the Cardinals opened MIVA play against the Mastodons at home in Muncie, Indiana. Ball State won in a close 3-2 (25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-13) battle. The team was led by Patrick Rogers and Tinaishe Ndavazocheva who recorded 19 and 18 kills, respectively. Sophomore setter, Lucas Machado, had a particularly strong performance, tying his career high with 54 assists.

• The Cardinals victory over Purdue Fort Wayne earlier this season extended Ball State to a 10-match win streak over the Mastodons.

Scouting Purdue Fort Wayne:
• Purdue Fort Wayne's Axel Melendez Watts won his first Player of the Week award after being named this week's Offensive Player of the Week.

• The Mastodons completed their season sweep over Quincy last week, beating the Hawks 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 24-26, 25-22).

• Sophomore opposite, Logan Muir, is among the top leaders of the MIVA in multiple categories. Muir is second in the conference for kills and points, averaging 4.05 kills per set and 4.90 points per set. He is also ranked third for service aces, averaging .461 per set with a total of 35 on the season. In the NCAA, Muir's numbers place him eighth for kills, seventh for points and 14th for aces.

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 81-32 (.717) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, three MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Looking ahead:
• Approaching the final week of regular season play, the Cardinals will head to Chicago, Illinois next Saturday (Apr. 12) to take on No. 6 Loyola Chicago. First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Vanis Buckholz

Cameron Gray

Lucas Machado

Tinaishe Ndavazocheva

Patrick Rogers

Braydon Savitski-Lynde