INDIANAPOLIS – Following an opening weekend that saw the IUPUI volleyball team take on a pair of Top 20 programs in Northern Iowa and Iowa State, preseason Mid-American Conference favorite Northern Illinois, and reigning BIG EAST regular-season champion Cincinnati, the Jaguars will continue their run against quality competition when it welcomes defending MAC West Division Champion Ball State to The Jungle on Tuesday, Aug. 30 for its 2011 home opener.

The Cardinals (2-0) enter the mid-week contest with a 2-0 record following a pair of wins over Loyola-Chicago and Summit League rival IPFW over the weekend.

“We are excited to be home and we are looking forward to playing our home opener against a local rival like Ball State,” head coach Steve Payne said. “They are coming off two wins and they have a lot of talent. We need to learn from the mistakes we made last weekend and focus on what we do best if we want to get a win on Tuesday against a quality opponent like Ball State.”

The Jaguars faced some stiff competition at the NIU Invitational and dropped all four contests to open the season. Despite the losses, Moriah Fair led the offensive attack averaging 3.54 kills per set, while hitting over .300 in both matches against Top 20 teams (Northern Iowa and Iowa State).

Defensively, Shari Bernhardt posted her first 20-dig outing of the season with 20 digs in a three-set loss to No. 14 Northern Iowa and averaged 4.38 digs per set for the week.

All 12 players saw action in the opening weekend, including all five newcomers. Beth Howard saw action in 11 of the team’s 13 sets and collected 22 digs in four matches averaging out to 2.00 dps. Kelsey Hoefer and Meredith Farkas averaged 1.20 kps and 1.00 kps, respectively, while Corinne Owens collected her first collegiate kill. Ellyn Jones made the most of her four sets of work dishing out nine assists and collected eight digs.

 

On the heels of a 27-8 record a year ago, an experienced Ball State team opened its 2011 regular season with a pair of wins last weekend over Loyola-Chicago and IPFW.

Senior Kelsey Brandl led the offensive attack posting 26 kills and hitting .419 during the two-match stretch.

One of the more impressive facets of the Cardinals game during the opening weekend was their serving. BSU registered 16 aces compared to six for their opponents, and committed just five serving errors.

Ball State leads the all-time series between the two programs, 11-2, including a 3-0 win in Muncie last season. Below are the last five matches between IUPUI and Ball State: