Mastodons Open Season by Hosting Fort Wayne Invitational

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The 2016 season for the Fort Wayne women's volleyball team kicks off with the 15th annual Fort Wayne Invitational Sponsored by Hyatt Place, August 26-27, on Arnie Ball Court. The Mastodons will host a round-robin tournament with Ball State, Murray State and Youngstown State.

Gameday Information
When: August 26-27
Where: Fort Wayne, Ind. | Arnie Ball Court (1,800)
Live Stats: Fort Wayne Sidearm Live Stats
Live Video: Fort Wayne Sidearm All-Access (Aaron Coyle, play-by-play; Rock Perrotte and JW Kieckhefer, analysts)
Live Audio: Fort Wayne stretch Internet (Fort Wayne matches only)

Tournament Schedule (home team listed first)
Friday, August 26

Ball State vs. Youngstown State - 4 P.M.
Fort Wayne vs. Murray State - 7 P.M.

Saturday, August 27

Ball State vs. Murray State - 10 A.M.
Fort Wayne vs. Youngstown State - 12:30 P.M.
Youngstown State vs. Murray State - 4 P.M.
Fort Wayne vs. Ball State - 7 P.M.

Fort Wayne Mastodons
2015 Record: 7-25, 4-12 Summit league
Coach: Steve Florio | 3rd Season
Top Returner Kills: 442 | Somer Johnson
Top Returner Assists: 1,078 | Madison Jaqua
Top Returner Digs: 569 | Olivia Hahn
Top Returner Blocks: 115 | Natalie Seiler
Top Returner Aces: 21 | Olivia Hahn
Top Returner Attack %: .198 | Natalie Seiler

Ball State Cardinals
2015 Record: 15-17, 8-8 Mid-American
Coach: Kelli Miller | 1st Season
Top Returner Kills: 185 | Mackenzie Kitchel
Top Returner Assists: 22 | Bailey Baumer
Top Returner Digs: 136 | Bailey Baumer
Top Returner Blocks: 52 | Jessica Lindsey
Top Returner Aces: 13 | Carly Cappello
Series History: Ball State leads 13-4
Last Meeting: Ball State 3, Fort Wayne 2 | Sept. 16, 2015 | Muncie, Ind.

Murray State Racers
2015 Record: 27-3, 15-1 Ohio Valley
Coach: David Schwepker | 19th Season
Top Returner Kills: 367 | Scottie Ingram
Top Returner Assists: 75 | Kristen Besselsen
Top Returner Digs: 418 | Ellie Lorenz
Top Returner Blocks: 50 | Olivia Chatman
Top Returner Aces: 36 | Scottie Ingram
Series History: Fort Wayne leads 3-1
Last Meeting: Murray State 3, Fort Wayne 0 | Sept. 11, 2015 | Terre Haute, Ind.

Youngstown State Penguins
2015 Record: 10-21, 4-12 Horizon League
Coach: Mark Hardaway | 5th Season
Top Returner Kills: 422 | Sam Brown
Top Returner Assists: 1,114 | Val Jeffery
Top Returner Digs: 216 | Val Jeffery
Top Returner Blocks: 113 | Lori Vanbeek
Top Returner Aces: 40 | Sarah Varcolla
Series History: Fort Wayne leads 1-0
Last Meeting: Fort Wayne 3, Youngstown State 1 | Nov. 11, 2001 | Youngstown, Ohio

Fort Wayne Invitational...
The Fort Wayne Invitational returns Arnie Ball Court as the 15th annual Fort Wayne Invitational welcomes Ball State, Murray State and Youngstown State for the two-day event.

Eastern Illinois won the 2015 tournament while Fort Wayne won the 2013 tournament, defeating Duquesne, Southern Illinois and Connecticut. Since 1997, the Mastodons have hosted the Fort Wayne invitational 14 times. During that stretch, the tournament was not played five times (1998, 2001, 2008, 2011, and 2014). Since 1982, Fort Wayne has hosted a tournament all but seven seasons, the five previously mentioned, along with 1995 and 1996. In 1985, Fort Wayne held two tournaments, the IPFW Invitational and the IPFW Classic.

Season Openers...
Fort Wayne is 23-17 all-time in season-openers, and is currently riding a five-match winning streak. During that run, they have defeated Loyola Chicago (2011), Murray State (2012), Duquesne (2013), Saint Francis (Pa) (2014), and Central Michigan (2015). The last time Fort Wayne lost a season-opener was on Aug. 27, 2010, falling to Tulsa 3-0 as part of the Fort Wayne Invitational.

The Mastodons open their season in the Gates Center for the fourth time in the last five seasons. In its history, Fort Wayne is 10-6 when starting the season at home and 27-13 all-time in home openers.

Summit League Preseason Poll...
Fort Wayne was picked to finish seventh in the Summit League preseason poll of the league's head coaches. The Mastodons received 24 points, three back of Omaha, as coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams.

Defending Summit League champion Denver was selected as the favorite to win the 2016 volleyball crown. The Pioneers collected eight first-place votes and 64 total points in the poll.

Players to Watch...
Two Fort Wayne players were selected by the Summit League coaches as 'Players to Watch' for the 2016 season. Senior outside hitter Somer Johnson and sophomore outside hitter Nicole Rightnowar were chosen for the Mastodons.

Johnson is a 2014 and 2015 Summit League Honorable Mention selection. She was named the Summit League Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 12 last season. Johnson finished the 2015 season third in league in kills, kills per set, points and points per set.

Rightnowar was the 2015 Summit League Freshman of the Year and named to the Summit League All-Freshman Team. She was second on the team with 337 kills.

On This Date...August 26 (2-2)

2000	GRACE (IN)	W, 3-0
2000	WAYNE STATE (MI)	W, 3-1
2006	at Ball State	L, 1-3
2006	vs Xavier	L, 0-3

On This Date...August 27 (3-2)

1999	at #2 BYU-Hawai'i	L, 0-3
1999	vs #5 Regis	W, 3-2
2005	DEPAUL	W, 3-0
2010	TULSA	L, 0-3
2011	vs Loyola-Chicago	W, 3-0

All-Time Results vs. Murray State

9/10/2005	N	Murray State	W, 3-0	30-16,30-11,30-27	Macomb, Ill.
9/6/2008	N	Murray State	W, 3-0	25-18,25-22,25-21	Nashville, Tenn.
8/24/2012	H	MURRAY STATE	W, 3-0	25-12,25-14,25-8	Fort Wayne, Ind.
9/11/2015	N	Murray State	L, 0-3	14-25,17-25,19-25	Terre Haute, Ind.

Overall: 3-1
League: 0-0
Home: 1-0
Away: 0-0
Neutral: 2-1

All-Time Results vs. Youngstown State

11/11/2001

Youngstown State

W, 3-1

30-26,21-30,30-23,30-25

Youngstown, Ohio

Overall: 1-0
League: 0-0
Home: 0-0
Away: 1-0
Neutral: 0-0

All-Time Results vs. Ball State

11/10/1987	A	Ball State	W, 3-2	16-14,15-11,5-15,12-15,15-13	Muncie, Ind.
11/19/1988	H	BALL STATE	L, 2-3	15-9,11-15,9-15,15-13,13-15	Fort Wayne, Ind.
11/8/2001	H	BALL STATE	L, 0-3	17-30,28-30,20-30	Fort Wayne, Ind.
10/5/2002	A	Ball State	L, 2-3	20-30,30-27,27-30,30-24,7-15	Muncie, Ind.
9/30/2003	H	BALL STATE	L, 2-3	24-30,30-27,30-23,17-30,10-15	Fort Wayne, Ind.
10/14/2004	A	Ball State	L, 0-3	22-30,26-30,25-30	Muncie, Ind.
9/20/2005	H	BALL STATE	W, 3-1	30-21,30-28,19-30,30-15	Fort Wayne, Ind.
8/26/2006	A	Ball State	L, 1-3	31-33,31-33,30-26,20-30	Muncie, Ind.
10/30/2007	H	BALL STATE	W, 3-0	30-22,30-18,30-9	Fort Wayne, Ind.
10/21/2008	A	Ball State	L, 0-3	18-25,22-25,24-26	Muncie, Ind.
9/4/2009	A	Ball State	L, 0-3	24-26,18-25,19-25	Muncie, Ind.
9/14/2010	H	BALL STATE	L, 2-3	21-25,25-23,20-25,25-22,12-15	Fort Wayne, Ind.
8/28/2011	A	Ball State	L, 1-3	20-25,25-27,25-19,13-25	Muncie, Ind.
8/28/2012	H	BALL STATE	W, 3-1	25-15,29-27,18-25,25-21	Fort Wayne, Ind.
9/4/2013	A	Ball State	L, 2-3	7-25,27-25,28-26,20-25,9-15	Muncie, Ind.
9/17/2014	H	BALL STATE	L, 2-3	34-36,25-21,22-25,28-26,12-15	Fort Wayne, Ind.
9/16/2015	A	Ball State	L, 2-3	20-25,25-27,25-11,27-25,9-15	Muncie, Ind.

Overall: 4-13
League: 0-0
Home: 3-5
Away: 1-8
Neutral: 0-0

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Mastodons Open Season by Hosting Fort Wayne Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Olivia Hahn

Madison Jaqua

Somer Johnson

Nicole Rightnowar

Natalie Seiler

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics

Mastodons Open Season by Hosting Fort Wayne Invitational

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