Labor Day weekend meant long road trips for Ball State athletics. Football went down to Georgia and beat Georgia State 31-21 in its season opener. Cross country finished third in the Butler Open in Carmel. Field hockey split its games in Louisville, soccer dropped two games in its California road trip and women's volleyball fell to 0-7 on the season.
In-state bragging rights will be on the line Aug. 31 when Ball State women’s volleyball hosts IUPUI in its home opener.
The Ball State women's volleyball team has some extra incentive to pick up its first win on Aug. 31.
With just one senior on its roster in 2016, Ball State volleyball opened its season with three losses in the Fort Wayne Invitational held at IPFW. Head coach Kelli Miller said the young team will need to grow during the non-conference portion of its schedule. “They just have to learn and get better every day,” she said.
For the fourth year in a row, the women’s volleyball match between Ball State and Fort Wayne came down to the fifth and final set. Unlike the last three meetings, however, it was the Mastadons (2-1) that topped the Cardinals (0-3) after erasing a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 25-22, 28-26, 15-5). Head coach Kelli Miller said the proximity between Ball State and Fort Wayne ups the intensity of the annual matchup. “It adds to the atmosphere that we’re an hour away,” she said.
The Penguins put the Cardinals on thin ice Aug. 26.
Even when he was just a quiet, reserved outside attacker for the Ball State men’s volleyball team in the early '90s, a future in coaching was always a possibility for Paul Baxter.
Ball State assistant volleyball coach Kelli Miller coached under recently retired head coach Steve Shondell for six years.
The 11th-ranked Ball State Cardinals (20-9, 12-4 MIVA) were knocked out of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association quarterfinals April 16 by the McKendree Bearcats (11-13, 5-11 MIVA).
Ball State men's volleyball had five players earn All-Conference honors for the first time in their careers.
The No. 8 Ball State men’s volleyball team will host McKendree on Saturday April 16 at Worthen Arena in the quarterfinals of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association conference tournament. The third seed Cardinals have defeated the sixth seeded Bearcats twice this season.
The 2015 NCAA men’s volleyball championship was the first time two teams from the same conference, other than the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, played in the championship. Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association rivals Loyola and Lewis played in the conference championship that year.
The No. 8 Ball State men’s volleyball team closed out the regular season over the weekend, losing both of its matches and finishing with the No. 3 spot in the upcoming Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association tournament.
The final weekend of the regular season will determine Ball State men’s volleyball’s final ranking in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.
For the second time this season, junior outside attacker Brendan Surane was named Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Offensive Player of the Week.
Steve Shondell retired from his position as Ball State’s women’s volleyball head coach on March 28, and applicants have already began to show interest in the job. Ball State Athletic Director Mark Sandy said that while the university has not begun actively seeking applicants for the position, there have been people who have begun reaching out to the athletic department.
As the Ball State Athletics Department begins their search for a new head women’s volleyball coach, former coach Steve Shondell looks forward to the much-needed time off he will now have. After nearly 40 years of coaching volleyball, the son of legendary Ball State men’s volleyball coach Don Shondell decided it was time to be finished.
The Ball State men’s volleyball Senior Night victory over McKendree marked its last home match of the regular season, but it will not be the final time the Cardinals will play at Worthen Arena this year.
Steve Shondell, head coach of the Ball State women's volleyball team for the last six season, has announced his retirement effective immediately. Shondell was the 2010 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year and led the Cardinals to a 119-68 (64-32 Mid-American Conference) record during his time at the school. “The past six years coaching the Ball State women's volleyball team have been six of the best years of my life,” Shondell said.
