No. 14 Ball State (9-7, 2-1 MIVA) |Purdue Fort Wayne (7-5, 1-2 MIVA)
Series History: Ball State leads the series 81-33
Last meeting: Ball State 3, Purdue Fort Wayne 0 (4/8/23)
No. 14 Ball State (9-7, 2-1 MIVA) |No. 10 Loyola Chicago (7-6, 2-1 MIVA)
Series History: Loyola Chicago leads the all-time series 39-26
Last meeting: Ball State 3, Loyola Chicago 1 (2/1/24
Coach Cruz: Ball State head coach Donan Cruz enters his third season at the helm of the Cardinals and owns an overall record at BSU of 51-19 (.767) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, two MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Match Recap: It was a long two-match road trip last weekend in Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association action for the Cardinals. Ball State opened the weekend with a 3-0 loss at McKendree Friday night and then turned around the next evening with long-winded match at Lindenwood on Saturday. The Cardinals pulled out the five-set thriller over the Lions. For the match, versus Lindenwood, Patrick Rogers set the pace for Ball State with a season best 20 kills while Tinaishe Ndavazocheva finished the night with 19. Lucas Machado dished out 50 assists and Dyer Ball tallied a career best 14 digs and seven block assists. Also setting a personal high versus the Lions was Wil McPhillips with eight block assists.
First Serve: Ball State continues MIVA action this week with a home match against long-time rival Purdue Fort Wayne. The last time these two teams met was last season on April 8 in Worthen Arena. The Cardinals earned a 3-0 sweep which also clinched its second-straight MIVA regular season title. The Cardinals haven't fallen to the Mastodons since Feb. 21, 2020 in Fort Wayne, Ind., by a score of 3-1. Ball State head coach Donan Cruz owns a 4-0 record versus Purdue Fort Wayne. After Thursday, the Cardinals head to Chicago to take on Loyola for the second time this season. Ball State recently defeated Loyola-Chicago in Worthen Arena on Feb. 1 by a score of 3-1.
Fun Fact About Dyer "The Fire" Ball: The Ball name should be familiar to both Ball State men's volleyball fans and fans of the sport in general. Ball's grandfather, Arnie Ball, played for the Cardinals from 1966-67 and was an All-MIVA performer both years. He went on to coach at Purdue Fort Wayne and was inducted into the MIVA Hall of Fame in 2018. His father, Lloy Ball, played at Purdue Fort Wayne where he has been described as the most decorated athlete in school history after being a four-time NCAA All-American and four-time U.S. Olympian.
Five-Way Tie: So far this MIVA season their are five teams that have a 2-1 league ledger; Ohio State, Lewis, Ball State, McKendree and Loyola Chicago.
Preseason All-MIVA:The 2024 roster is a good mixture of some familiar faces along with several newcomers. One of the Cardinals returnees is sophom*ore outside hitterTinaishe Ndavazochevawho was recently named to the 12-member preseason All-MIVA conference team. Ndavazocheva turned in quite the rookie season for the Cardinals last year. He earned MIVA Offensive Player of the Week honors and Off the Block National Honors on Feb. 7. He turned in a career high 27 kills against Lewis (2/9) and had 22 double digit kill performances in 2023. Ndavazocheva ended the season ranked second on the team in kills (342) and in points (397.5). He also received All-MIVA First Team honors andAVCA Honorable Mention All-American.
The Legend Don Shondell: The Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association has announced changes to the MIVA Tournament format. The conference has also announced that future tournament winners will receive the Don Shondell MIVA Championship Trophy.
The MIVA Tournament has been played after every regular season since 1980 except 2020 and was also played from 1964-69. The new format for the MIVA Tournament will reward the highest seeds, providing an advantage for a path to the NCAA tournament via the MIVA's automatic bid.The opening round of the eight-team tournament will be played at the higher four seeds. No. 1 will host No. 8, No. 2 will host No. 7, No. 3 will host No. 6, and No. 4 will host No. 5.
The semifinal and final rounds will be hosted by the highest remaining seed in the field. The field will also re-seed. The highest remaining seed will host the lowest remaining seed and the other two teams will play in the other semifinal. The two winning teams will play in the final match for the Don Shondell MIVA Championship Trophy.
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