Home Sweet Home: Women's Volleyball Returns to Worthen Thursday

Ball State (4-5) hosts Cincinnati / No. 11 Purdue / Eastern Kentucky
Match 10 - hosts Cincinnati (6-2)	Thursday, Sept. 18 at 11:30 a.m. ET ESPN+ \| Live Stats \| Parking ($5) Promotions: Field Trip Day
Cincinnati (6-2) vs. Eastern Kentucky (7-3)	Friday, Sept. 19 at 3 p.m. ET Live Stats \| Parking ($5)
Match 11 - hosts No. 11 Purdue (7-1)	Friday, Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. ET ESPN+ \| Live Stats Promotions: Student Life Night
Match 12 - hosts Eastern Kentucky (7-3)	Saturday, Sept. 20 at 4 p.m. ET ESPN+ \| Live Stats Promotions: Tailgate Day
Notes	Ball State \| Cincinnati \| Purdue \| Eastern Kentucky
Social Media	X (Twitter) \| Instagram

THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE VOLLEYBALL: The Ball State women's volleyball team will be in action at home the first time this season when it hosts Cincinnati at 11:30 a.m. Thursday for Field Trip Day ... It is the first of three home matches on the week, as the Cardinals also welcome Purdue Friday (6 p.m.) and Eastern Kentucky Saturday (4 p.m.).

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans unable to make their way to Worthen Arena have several ways to follow the action ... All three Ball State matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+ ... Ball State Sports Link Digital will have the audio call on their social channels (@bsusportslink) ... Live stats will be available via StatBroadcast courtesy of Ball State Athletics ... Updates from the matches will also be provided on the team's X feed and Instagram story: @BallStateWVB.

MAC PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATION: Ball State women's volleyball team received 102 points in the league's annual coaches' poll, trailing only defending regular season champion Bowling Green (119) ... With coaches unable to vote for their own teams, BGSU earned 10 of the 12 votes to win the MAC regular season title, with the Cardinals claiming the other two ... The Falcons were also selected as the favorite to win the MAC Volleyball Championship with 10 votes, while Buffalo and Central Michigan each garnered one vote.

PRESEASON HONORS: In addition to the team rankings, the MAC announced its annual Preseason All-MAC Team ... Representing Ball State are sophomore outside Carson Tyler and sophomore libero Sophie Ledbetter ... Tyler was named the 2024 MAC and AVCA Midwest Region Freshman of the Year after ranking first on the team and seventh in the league with a 3.34 kills-per-set average last season ... Ledbetter earned a nod on the 2024 MAC All-Freshman team after leading the squad and ranking 10th in the MAC with a 3.68 digs-per-set average.

BALL STATE ALL-TIME: Ball State enters Thursday's match versus Cincinnati with a 1038-663-2 (.610) all-time record in women's volleyball ... Ball State became the 44th program in NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball history to reach 1,000 wins with a sweep of Central Michigan on Sept. 22, 2023 ... All-time, the Cardinals have captured 12 MAC West Division Championships, 10 MAC Regular Season Championships and eight MAC Volleyball Championship titles ... Ball State has made 11 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including three of the last six seasons ... BSU has also earned two bids into the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC).

WHEN IN WORTHEN: The Cardinals boast a 324-100 (.764) all-time mark inside Worthen Arena, including an 84-38 (.689) record against non-conference foes ... Purdue is the only team of this week's opponents to have played regular season match in Worthen Arena, with the Boilermakers earning a 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-21) victory Sept. 6, 2008 ... Looking at just opponents from the MAC, Ball State is 240-62 (.795) when battling in its current home gym ... Overall, no MAC opponent owns a winning record inside Worthen Arena, as the Cardinals have at least a .630 winning percentage against all league schools on its current home floor.

BALL STATE IN THE MAC: With a 13-5 league record in 2024, Ball State maintained its status as the winningest program in league play with a 459-225 (.671) all-time Mid-American Conference mark ... Western Michigan is second on the list, two matches behind the Cardinals at 457-227 (.668).

SCOUTING BALL STATE:
• The Cardinals enter the week with a 4-5 overall record after going 2-1 at last weekend's Marquette Tournament ... Ball State started the event with a 3-2 win over the host Golden Eagles Friday, before sweeping Milwaukee Saturday ... Unfortunately, James Madison rallied for a 3-2 Sunday win.
• Ball State enters the week as one of the nation's top terminating teams, ranking 19th nationally with 500 total kills ... 158 of those kills have come from the arm of sophomore outside Carson Tyler who ranks second in the MAC and 47th nationally with a 4.16 kills-per-set average.
• In addition, the Cardinals lead the MAC and rank 75th nationally with a .250 team attack percentage ... Junior middle Camryn Wise is third in the league with a .356 rate of success, while graduate outside Noelle VanOort is 10th at .294.

SCOUTING CINCINNATI:
• Cincinnati, led by former Bowling Green head coach Danijela Tomic who is in her first season at UC after spending the past 13 at BGSU, enters the weekend with a 6-2 overall record after going 1-1 at last weekend's Linda Herman Classic hosted by Illinois State ... The Bearcats opened the event with a 3-0 loss to Illinois, before rebounding for a 3-1 victory over the host Redbirds.
• The Bearcats feature one of the nation's most efficient offenses, ranking 16th nationally with a .296 team attack percentage ... Sydney Nolan is the squad's top attacker, averaging 4.69 kills per set which is 15th nationally ... Carly Glendinning is not far behind with her 3.83 average ranking 82nd nationally.
• Cincinnati is also solid at the net, ranking 31st nationally with a 2.71 blocks-per-set average, led by a 1.21 mark from Brooke Crummel and a 1.10 mark from Tatjana Simeunovic.

SCOUTING NO. 11 PURDUE:
• The collegiate alma mater of Ball State head coach Kelli Miller Phillips, the Boilermakers are led by Dave Shondell who himself is a Ball State alumnus and two-year letterwinner for the Cardinals men's volleyball program (1978 & 1980) ... He has guided Purdue to a 7-1 record so far this season, including a 3-1 win over then-No. 10 SMU this past Sunday.
• Purdue is another one of the nation's top hitting teams, ranking 25th nationally with a .285 attack percentage ... Lindsey Miller leads the way, ranking 38th nationally with a .414 rate of success.
• The Purdue offense is led by Kenna Wollard who is 54th nationally with a 4.09 kills-per-set average, while Taylor Anderson runs the offense and ranks 15th nationally with 10.45 assists per set.

SCOUTING EASTERN KENTUCKY
• The Colonels coaching staff also features a familiar face to the Ball State and Muncie community in Kendall Murr ... A high school standout a nearby Yorktown, where she helped guide the Tigers to the 2016 IHSAA Class 3A State Championship, her mother Rhonda was a four-year letterwinner for the Ball State women's volleyball program from 1991-94 and her father Scott was a four-year letterwinner for the Ball State baseball program from 1990-93.
• EKU enters the week with a 7-3 overall record after going 2-1 in its home tournament last weekend ... The Colonels opened the event with a 3-1 setback to MAC member Akron, before sweeping Texas-Rio Grande Valley and topping rival Northern Kentucky 3-2.
• EKU also ranks among the national leaders in attack percentage, ranking 62nd overall with a .257 mark ... AG Hynes is 68th nationally with a .383 rate of success, while Carson Ledford is 83rd at .373.
• AG Hynes leads a quartet of attackers averaging above 4.20 kills per set, ranking sixth among Atlantic Sun players with a 3.15 mark ... Addison Burke is second on the team at 2.90 kills per set, followed by Emilee Hill (2.53) and Amanda Mack (2.41).

BALL STATE QUICK HITS:
• Graduate outside Noelle VanOort made quite an impact during her first three weekends with the Cardinals, smashing 132 total kills, collecting 83 digs and hitting .294 (132-36-327) ... A member of the Golden Gopher Invitational All-Tournament Team, VanOort has smashed double digit kills in eight of BSU's nine matches, including a season-high 20 kills twice ... She has also been credited with five kill/dig double-doubles ... The effort helped her raise her collegiate total to 11 matches with 20+ kills, including a 20/20 effort Nov. 5, 2022, with 23 kills and 25 digs versus Siena Heights.

• Prior to arriving at Ball State, Noelle VanOort finished her four-year playing career at Indiana Tech (2021-24) as a two-time NAIA Third Team All-American ... Her 1,724 career kills ranked second in program history, while her 1,648 career digs were sixth ... She also set the program standard with 282 career service aces ... She continued to find success in her first three weekends with the Cardinals with double-digit kills in eight of the nine outings ... The effort upped her career total to 105 collegiate matches with double-digit kills.

VanOort Career Tracker
Kills: 1856
Digs: 1731
Aces: 290

• Noelle VanOort has been just as solid on defense through the first three weekends, earning double-digit digs five times, including a season-high 15 vs. Cal Poly (Sept. 31) ... The effort has raised her career total to 95 matches with double-digit digs, including her 90 at Indiana Tech ... It also helped her raise her collegiate kill/dig double-double total to 73, including five with Ball State and 68 with the Warriors.

• Sophomore outside Carson Tyler has been just as impressive over the first three weeks, smashing 158 total kills for a team-high 4.16 kills-per-set average ... The effort includes a career-high 26 kills last time out versus James Madison (Sept. 14) and 21 kills at UConn (Sept. 5) ... Last season, Tyler averaged 3.34 kills per set to become the first player in program history to earn AVCA Midwest Region Freshman of the Year accolades.

• Carson Tyler has smashed double-digit kills in all nine matches for the Cardinals so far this season, raising her career total to 31 ... She has secured 20+ kills in nine of those matches and is one of just nine players in program history to register 20-or-more kills in at least nine career matches.

• A six-rotation player, Carson Tyler is currently second on the squad with 108 digs this season ... She has recorded kill/dig double-doubles in six matches so far this season, including all three matches at last weekend's Marquette Tournament ... Her effort last weekend included a career-high 19 digs in the win over host Marquette (Sept. 12) ... Tyler also leads Ball State's primary passers with a .961 reception percentage this seasons, successfully passing 199 of the 207 serves she faced ... Tyler led the Cardinals' primary passers last season with a .963 reception percentage by successfully passing 650 of the team-high 675 serves she faced.

• With 20 kills each in the Aug. 31 match versus Cal Poly, Noelle VanOort and Carson Tyler became the first Ball State duo to record 20-or-more kills in the same match since the 2007 season ... Brittany May and Julie Breivogel were the last players to do so with 21 and 20 kills, respectively, in an Oct. 5, 2027 match versus Western Michigan.

• Sophomore libero Sophie Ledbetter paces the Ball State defense with 137 digs and a 3.61 digs-per-set average so far this season ... Both the dig total and the average rank fifth among MAC defenders so far this season ... She has recorded double-digit digs in eight of BSU's nine matches, upping her career total to 31 ... The effort includes a season-high 26 digs in the season-opener versus St. Thomas (Aug. 29), one shy of her career-high 27 digs set last season versus James Madison (Sept. 6, 2024).

• Sophie Ledbetter earned her first collegiate double-double versus Cal Poly (Aug. 31), handing out 10 assists to go along with her 14 digs in the outing.

• Junior Lindsey Green and freshman Reese Axness have combined to lead the Ball State offense to a .250 attack percentage so far this season which is first in the MAC and 75th nationally ... Green, who dished out a career-high 51 assists twice last weekend, currently ranks eighth in the MAC with a 7.79 assists-per-set average ... She also leads the squad with 12 service aces ... Axness, meanwhile, enters the week with a 3.86 assists-per-set average and has served up a pair of aces.

• Sophomore transfer middle/opposite Tiffany Snook turned in one of the best matches of her collegiate career versus Cal Poly (Aug. 31), smashing a career-high 16 kills while connecting for a .481 (16-3-27) rate of success ... It was her 10th collegiate match with double-digit kills, including nine in her lone season at Memphis, and was three kills more than her previous career high of 13 at Southern Illinois Sept. 6, 2024.

• Roster Update: Senior opposite Madison Buckley and redshirt junior outside attacker Aniya Kennedy will both miss the 2025 season as medical redshirts … Buckley was a 2024 First Team All-MAC selection after ranking second on the team in total blocks (90.0) and third in total kills (276) last season … Kennedy, the 2023 MAC Freshman of the Year and First Team All-MAC selection, ranked second on the squad with 279 kills last season and chipped in 43 total blocks.

Home Sweet Home: Women's Volleyball Returns to Worthen Thursday

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Players Mentioned

Reese Axness

Madison Buckley

Lindsey Green

Aniya Kennedy

Sophie Ledbetter

Tiffany Snook

Carson Tyler

Noelle VanOort

Camryn Wise