There was no time for Steve Shondell to settle into his new position as the women's volleyball coach for Ball State University on Wednesday. Less than 24 hours after the announcement of his hiring, Shondell returned to Worthen Arena for his first practice with the team and began his whirlwind day of meetings.
Senior Libero Billy Ebel only has a few matches left in his Ball State University uniform, and there was one thing he had to do before graduating: Get a mohawk.
Ball State moves to 17-9 on the season (6-4 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) while Saint Francis falls below .500 to 12-13. Ball State closes out the regular season against MIVA leaders No. 13 Ohio State University and No. 11 Loyola University next weekend. Ball State is currently the No. 3 seed in the MIVA tournament, which begins April, 24.
Ball State moves to 16-9 and stays at 6-4 in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. Ball State closes out its non-conference schedule tonight in Worthen Arena versus Saint Francis University.
King College is not a name that with star power, but when it takes on No. 15 Ball State University at 7 p.m in Worthen Arena. it will be proof that volleyball is a growing sport.
Ball State lost to Lewis 3-2 on Feb. 26 with the fifth game determined by two points. Tuesday night was the same story with the Cardinals instead surviving 15-13 in the game five.
No. 15 Ball State travels to Lewis for a midweek MIVA match with plenty of rankings implications.
Ball State has three matches remaining with Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association schools to improve its seeding before the MIVA tournament, which is less than three weeks away.
Middles attackers J.D. Gasparovic and Anders Nelson led the team in kills with eight. IPFW (9-15, 2-8 MIVA) was unable to force Ball State to use its outside attackers like it did in their earlier encounter this season in Muncie.
Ball State is coming off its first victory against a ranked team this season, sweeping No. 3 California State University Northridge on Saturday. Coach Joel Walton, however, doesn't want his team to stop there.
After outside attacker Larry Wrather scored match point with a solo block, Ball State's bench cleared to celebrate on the court as the fans at Worthen Arena gave a standing ovation. It was the biggest celebration men's volleyball players had experienced this season.
The feeling of knocking off a top-five team was something the Ball State University middle attacker had never experienced in his career. It was even more meaningful to Nelson, though, because he out-played an All-American in the process of securing one of the biggest upsets in Ball State's 46-year program history.
Ball State went from being swept by No. 3 Cal State Northridge on Friday night to returning the favor by sweeping the Matadors 30-24, 30-28, 30-22 Saturday night in Worthen Arena. It was Ball State's first victory against a ranked opponent in six attempts this season and the first time the Cardinals have defeated a top-five ranked team since defeating then-No. 4 IPFW in February 1999.
Coach Joel Walton schemed everything right to prevent Cal State Northridge's All-American middle attacker Jacek Ratajczak from having a big night. The coach and Ball State, though, just couldn't stop the other starting middle attacker Kevin McKniff in the three-game loss.
The Matadors went on a 16-7 run to close out game one after being down 15-14. History repeated itself in game two with tied score of 11 all before the Matadors ended the match on a 19-13 spurt.
No. 3 California State University Northridge has not loss to school out of the rankings all year, but Ball State University coach Joel Walton still has high hopes tonight at Worthen Arena.
Cal State Northridge (15-6) was No. 1 in the country earlier in the season. Ball State (12-7) is looking to win its first match against a ranked team this year. Everyone on the Cardinals agrees that a raucous crowd will be needed to knock off the Matadors.
Ball State coach Joel Walton said Saturday that outside attackers Lee Meyer and Larry Wrather will be the team's permanent starters following their performances during the Ball State University men's volleyball team's two road matches this weekend.
Ball State will be in action Friday against George Mason University followed by another road match at Rutgers-Newark University on Saturday.
The Ball State women's volleyball coaching position became vacant March 3 when former coach Dave Boos resigned to become an assistant coach with the University of Florida. Boos was officially hired by Florida yesterday.
