It was one newcomer's chance to shine last weekend for the women's volleyball team.
This week, Cincinnati transfer Lauren Grant also made her presence known on the team.
The sophomore right-side hitter turned Ball State's opening match in the Mid-American Conference against Toledo completely around on Thursday, helping the team earn a 3-1 win.
Ball State didn't miss a beat in its two MAC matches, beating Akron 3-1 on Saturday as well as Toledo to improve to 13-2 and 2-0 in the MAC.
Following the Toledo match, Shondell praised Grant's efforts in putting Ball State ahead after Toledo had tied the match 1-1.
"Lauren Grant came in and changed the whole match around with her attacking and presence on the block," Shondell said. "I give her a lot of credit for turning this match around."
Grant didn't light up the stat sheet in the match, finishing with three kills, a .286 attack percentage and two blocks. She said the Cardinals settled down in the third game to push past Toledo.
"We just played Ball State volleyball," Grant said. "In game two, Toledo kind of took over and we had a lot of unforced errors. But in game three, we just had quick transitions and played our style, which is why we won."
Ball State's 13-2 start matches the best 15-match start in the program's history, tying with 1973 team.
Bates led the Ball State offense over the weekend, finishing with the highest kill total in both matches and 34 kills overall.
Senior middle blocker Kelsey Brandl had 19 kills, five blocks and three service aces combined. Fellow senior middle blocker Jennifer Boyd chipped in 18 kills and six total blocks of her own.
After being defeated by Toledo in the first round of MAC tournament last year, senior setter Brittany McGinnis said she thinks the Cardinals can move on from the loss after beating the Rockets on Thursday.
"I feel like we had some closure from last year," McGinnis said. "The feeling of losing to Toledo after beating them twice was pretty disappointing, and now I guess we can put that in the past. I feel like we were still holding on to that this year."
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