CARDINALS WELCOME LEAGUE LEADERS TO WORTHEN: The Ball State men's volleyball team welcomes the top two teams in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association standings to Worthen Arena this weekend, with matches versus No. 6 Ohio State Friday and No. 13 Loyola Saturday . . . Admission to the matches, which both start at 7:30 p.m., is free.
WEEKEND RECAP: Ball State opened league play with a 3-2 (25-22, 25-15, 23-25, 22-25, 15-10) setback at No. 14 Lewis last Friday . . . BSU trailed by two sets and 21-17 in the third before rallying to win games three and four . . . The Cardinals rebounded with a 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-18) victory over IPFW Saturday with a dominating performance at the net.
HOME SWEEP HOME: In three home matches this season, the Ball State men's volleyball team has yet to drop a set . . . The Cardinals have scored home sweeps over Lindenwood (Jan. 7), Pfeiffer (Feb. 4) and Limestone (Feb. 5) . . . BSU is 3-2 in true road matches this season, and 0-2 in neutral contests.
IN THE POLLS: After going 1-1 last weekend, Ball State fell out of the top 15 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . BSU did receive 14 points and is the first team outside the top 15 . . . BSU has been ranked as high as 12th this season (Jan. 17 & Jan. 24) . . . BSU has also received votes in the Asics/Volleyball Magazine Men's Division I-II Top 10 Poll twice this season (Jan. 17 & Jan. 24).
SCOUTING BALL STATE: The Cardinals enter the week with a 6-4 (1-1 MIVA) record after last weekend's MIVA split . . . Sophomore Larry Wrather leads the Ball State attack with a 2.74 kills-per-set average, while sophomore Greg Herceg is second at 2.42 . . . Freshman Graham McIlvaine has set BSU to a .275 rate of success this season, handing out 10.09 assists-per-set . . . Defensively, redshirt freshman Tommy Rouse leads the MIVA with a 2.67 digs-per-set average, while senior Anders Nelson paces the league at the net with a 1.46 blocks-per-set average . . . BSU is limiting its opponents to a .208 hitting mark.
SERIES VS. OHIO STATE: Ball State holds a 98-86-1 lead in the all-time series versus Ohio State despite losses in the last eight meetings . . . Last season, the Buckeyes swept the regular season series and scored a MIVA Tournament victory over the Cardinals . . . BSU's last win in the series was a 3-1 homecourt win Feb. 15, 2008 . . . The Cardinals hold a 42-29-1 edge all-time in Muncie.
SCOUTING NO. 6 OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes enter Friday's match with a 9-2 (3-0 MIVA) record and ranked sixth in the latest AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll, including one first place vote . . . Last week, OSU scored a pair of home sweeps of Quincy . . . Shawn Sangrey leads the team with a 4.12 kills-per-set average, while John Klanac is second at 3.10 . . . Steven Kehoe has set the Buckeyes offense to a .381 rate of success this season, handing out 12.30 assists-per-set . . . Defensively, Mik Berzins leads the team with a 1.88 digs-per-set average, while Grayson Overman has a team-best 0.97 blocks-per-set average . . . OSU is limiting its opponents to a .271 hitting percentage.
SERIES VS. LOYOLA: The series is tied at 18-18 . . . Last season, the teams split the regular season series with each team scoring home sweeps . . . In fact, the home team has won the last seven matches in the series, with Loyola claiming the last road win Feb. 24, 2007 . . . BSU holds a 13-3 edge in Muncie.
SCOUTING NO. 13 LOYOLA: The Ramblers enter Saturday's match with an 8-3 (3-0 MIVA) record and ranked 13th in the latest AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 Poll . . . Loyola scored a 3-2 win over No. 2 BYU last Friday, while sweeping league rival Grand Canyon Saturday and Monday . . . Mike Bunting leads the team with a 4.39 kills-per-set average, while Joseph Smalzer is second at 2.76 . . . Mike Hunt has set the Ramblers offense to a .382 rate of success this season, handing out 10.66 assists-per-set . . . Defensively, Tommy Becker leads the team with a 1.53 digs-per-set average, while Tim Frydendall has a team-best 1.00 blocks-per-set average . . . Loyola is limiting its opponents to a .281 hitting percentage.
THE BIG BLOCK: In last Saturday's win at IPFW, the Cardinals collected a season-high 21.5 total blocks . . . The effort was a BSU rally scoring era record for team blocks in a three game match . . . The previous record was 21.0 set at Mercyhurst April 11, 2003 . . . The 21.5 total blocks tie as the fourth-most in a match in the rally scoring era.
MORE ON THE BLOCKING TOTAL: The 21.5 blocks at IPFW are the most in a match for the Cardinals since Feb. 25, 2010, when the Ball State posted 22.5 blocks in a five set home win over IPFW . . . Of BSU's top six blocking efforts in the rally scoring era, three have come against the Mastodons . . . The Cardinals also scored 21.5 blocks in a five set win over IPFW March 21, 2008.
CAREER NUMBERS: Four BSU players recorded career-high blocking totals in the win at IPFW . . . Senior middle blocker Anders Nelson posted a career-best 10 block assists . . . Sophomore right side attacker Greg Herceg posted career-highs of two solo blocks, six block assists and eight total blocks . . . Freshman setter Graham McIlvaine posted a career-bests of six block assists and six total blocks . . . Senior outside attacker Lee Meyer tied a career-high with six total blocks.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Anders Nelson was named the MIVA Offensive Player of the Week after helping guide the Cardinals to a 1-1 record last week by leading the team with 19 kills, 17 total blocks and a .593 (19-3-27) attack percentage . . . In BSU's five-set loss at No. 14 Lewis last Friday, Nelson paced the Cardinals with 18 points, racking up 13 kills, three solo blocks and four block assists, while hitting for a .526 (13-3-19) rate of success . . . He also collected a season-best five digs in the contest . . . In Saturday's sweep of IPFW, Nelson rack up 11 points with six kills and a career-high 10 block assists, while hitting for a .750 (6-0-8) mark.
LEAGUE LEADERS: After collecting 17 total blocks in BSU's two matches last week, Anders Nelson climbed to the top of the league charts with a 1.46 blocks-per-set average . . . Nelson's average also ranks fourth nationally . . . In the backcourt, freshman libero Tommy Rouse posted a team-high 14 digs last week and continues to lead the league with a 2.67 digs-per-set average . . . Rouse's average also ranks fifth nationally.
399 AND COUNTING With his eight block assists last weekend, senior middle attacker J.D. Gasparovic climbed from fifth to third in program history with 399 career block assists . . . Gasparovic needs 38 more block assists to vault into second . . . In addition, his 453 career total blocks rank seventh in BSU annals . . . He needs just 12 more blocks to move into fourth in program history in that category.
SPADAVECCHIO NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: After collecting 23 kills and 12 digs in BSU's three matches at the Outrigger Hotels Invitational, redshirt junior outside attacker Dominic Spadavecchio was named to the event's All-Tournament Team . . . Spadavecchio collected six kills versus Hawai'i, 10 versus UCLA and seven against Penn State.
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