Match information:
No. 11 Ball State vs. No. 9 BYU
Friday, January 5 (9 p.m. ET)
Saturday, January 6 (9 p.m. ET)
Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
watched Live statistics
Match summary:
The No. 11 Ball State men’s volleyball team opened its home season with two wins over Wabash and one win over Thomas More, each of which resulted in a 3-0 sweep of the Cardinals.
In three games, the Cardinals have led the offense Trevor Phillips And Ryan Bartz Each has a total of 14 kills. Even more impressive was Ball State’s service as the team collected a total of 28 aces led by Patrick Rogers With six. Offensively, the Cardinals hit .417 from a pitch of 216 swings.
Notes:
The AVCA/NVA National Collegiate MVB Poll was released Wednesday which has the Cardinals ranked No. 11 to start the season.
The Cardinals will now head to No. 9 BYU for two games on Friday and Saturday. First serve is scheduled for 9pm ET for each match. Last season, the Cardinals split a two-game series in Muncie against the Cougars after losing 3-1 on February 2 and then came back to win the second game by the same score on February 4. This will also mark the 22nd and 23rd all-time meetings between BSU and BYU with the Cougars leading the series, 18-5.
Currently assistant coach Christian Robert She played men’s volleyball at BYU. Robert was a middle blocker for BYU from 2015-2018. He helped the Cougars appear in the NCAA Championship game in 2016 and 2017 and reach the semifinals in 2018. Robert was a member of three Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) regular season championships (2016, 2017, and 2018) and also won two tournament titles MPSF (2016 and 2018).
Ball State head coach Donan Cruz enters his third season at the helm of the Cardinals and owns an overall BSU record of 46-13 (.767) along with a Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) championship, two MIVA regular season titles and an appearance NCAA tournament.
The 2024 roster is a good mix of some familiar faces along with several newcomers. One of the Cardinals’ returnees is sophomore outside hitter Tinaishe Ndavazocheva who was recently named to the 12-member All-MIVA Conference team. Ndavazocheva had a completely breakout season for the Cardinals last year. He earned MIVA Offensive Player of the Week and Of the Block National Honors on February 7. He set a career-high with 27 kills against Lewis (2/9) and had 22 double-digit kill performances in 2023. Ndavazocheva finished the season ranked second on the team in kills (342) and points (397.5). He also earned All-MIVA First Team honors and an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American.