Ball State (11-8, 7-0) travels to the Stroh Center this week for a two-game series in an attempt to break the BGSU volleyball (12-7, 6-1) undefeated home record and keep their own undefeated Mid-American Conference record alive.
The Falcons, still without the help of senior right side Lauryn Hovey and junior setter Amanda Otten, who are both out with injury, will try to defend their home court against the MAC’s most lethal offense.
That’s not an exaggeration either; the Cardinals have the most kills in the conference with 1,053, the only MAC team that has cleared 1,000 kills on the season so far. For reference, the Falcons have 901 kills in 2025.
Bowling Green will look to stop this impressive BSU attack at the net. The Orange and Brown are the best blocking team in the Mid-American Conference right now, with 178.5 total blocks.
Last week, the Cardinals beat Toledo twice; the first match took five sets, and the second match took four. This was later in the week after BGSU had lost to the Rockets in four sets on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
Despite the loss, as well as the loss of Otten, the Falcons toppled NIU in both games of a two-game series at the Stroh last week. BG won in four sets on Thursday and in a sweep on Friday.
Therefore, the two squads enter this matchup as the number one and number two teams in the MAC standings. Ball State is in first place with an undefeated 7-0 conference record, while Bowling Green is in second place at 6-1.
History is not on the Falcons’ side. Although the Orange and Brown have won the past three games, including a 3-0 sweep in the latest match, BSU is up 47-24-1 in the all-time series. The Cardinals have been dominant on the road against BG, with a 21-7 record.
The Cardinals are led by sophomore outside hitter Carson Tyler, who just won the MAC offensive player of the week this past week.
Tyler leads her team and the conference in kills with 336, while no other person has cleared 300. She also leads the Mid-American Conference in total points with 372.5, though she is still second in points per set behind Hovey.
Last week, the young hitter had 57 kills, 26 digs, and seven total blocks against Miami and Toledo in a two-game series. Tyler nearly had 30 kills in a single matchup with 29 against Toledo.
To stop her massive offensive output, the Falcons’ junior right side Marija Tabak will need to step up in a big way after getting her first appearance at right side in last week’s series against the Huskies.
Tabak had herself 13 kills through those two matches, with seven digs and five blocking assists. She will be facing off against Tyler in the front row during the games, so she will have to try to limit the outside kills.
First match is on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 6 p.m., and the second is on Friday, Oct. 17, also at 6 p.m. Tune into WBGU 88.1 FM both days at 5:45 p.m. for pregame before first serve with Falcon Media Sports Network’s Ben Corak and Andrew Smith.
