No. 12 Ball State (17-8, 10-2 MIVA) | No. 14 Lewis (14-11, 7-5 MIVA)
Last Meeting: Ball State 3, Lewis 0 (4/9/23)
Series History:Ball State leads the all-time series 38-34
Setting the Scene:
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 60-21 (.746) along with a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Tournament Championship, two MIVA regular season titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Match Recap: Ball State defeated in-state MIVA rival Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday in a five-set thriller in Fort Wayne, Ind. The Cardinals charge was led by Tinaishe Ndavazocheva who had a season best 25 kills. Ndavazocheva registered six kills off seven swings while hitting .857 from the floor in the fifth set to help BSU seal the win over PFW allowing the Cardinals to stay atop of the MIVA standings. Currently, the Cardinals own a 10-2 MIVA mark and are two wins ahead of Ohio State and Loyola Chicago. Both the Buckeyes and the Ramblers own a 9-4 conference record currently.
Scouting Lewis: Lewis rides a three-match win streak into Thursday's contest against Ball State with wins over Quincy and Queens. Max Roquet leads the Flyers offensively with a total of 319 kills while hitting .304 from the court. Roquet averages 3.54 kills per set. A well balanced player, Roquet also is strong defensively owning a team high total of 65 blocks this season.
Fun Fact: The Cardinals' assistant coach Mike Iandolo was a former standout player at Lewis. During his career as a Flyer, Iandolo was a three-time Delahnty Award and MIVA Academic All-Conference selection at the setter position. He was also a two-time All-MIVA First Team selection.After his playing days with the Flyers, Iandolo spent the 2012-13 campaign as a graduate assistant coach for his alma mater.
Ndavazocheva Earns MIVA Offensive Player of the Week: Ndavazocheva led the Cardinals to a 3-0 victory over Quincy. The junior outside hitter had 15 kills on 22 attempts with just one error, working out to a .636 hitting percentage. He added an ace in the win. His 15 kills averaged to 5.00 per set.
Rogers MIVA Offensive Player of the Week: Patrick Rogers led No. 13 Ball State to a pair of wins over Purdue Fort Wayne and then-No. 10 Loyola Chicago. The sophom*ore outside hitter totaled 40 kills in eight sets for a 5.00 average per set while hitting .395 for the week. Against the Mastodons, he had 22 kills in three sets on a blistering .515 hitting clip then followed it up with 18 kills on .302 hitting in five sets against the Ramblers. He added an ace against the Mastodons.
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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