Fort Wayne Set For Wednesday Tilt With Ball State

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The No. 15 Fort Wayne men's volleyball team is set for a midweek match with No. 11 Ball State on Wednesday (March 14) on Arnie Ball Court.

Gameday Information vs. Ball State
WHEN: Wednesday, March 14 | 7 p.m.
WHERE: Fort Wayne, Ind. | Arnie Ball Court
LIVE STATS: gomastodons.com/stats
LIVE VIDEO: gomastodons.com/watch
LIVE AUDIO: gomastodons.com/listen
Play-by-Play: Mike Maahs
SERIES HISTORY: Ball State leads 70-29
LAST MEETING: Fort Wayne 2, No. 11 Ball State 3 (25-23, 17-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-10) | Feb. 10, 2017 | Fort Wayne, Ind.

Scouting Fort Wayne (15-5, 3-3 MIVA)
Fort Wayne is 15-5, 3-3 MIVA coming into this match with Ball State. The Mastodons have two top 15 wins this season, coming at No. 3 UC Irvine and No. 14 Concordia Irvine. The 'Dons are ranked No. 15 in the AVCA Top 15 Coaches Poll, and are led in kills per set by Pelegrin Vargas with 3.71. Defensively, Michael Keegan and Kolbie Knorr lead 2.18 and 2.06 digs per set respectively. Richie Diedrich leads with 1.05 blocks per set.

Scouting Ball State (11-9, 4-2 MIVA)
Ball State is 11-9, 4-2 MIVA is also coming off a trip to California. The Cardinals played the same three teams that Fort Wayne played: Concordia Irvine (W, 3-1), UC Irvine (L, 0-3) and UC Santa Barbara (L, 0-3). They enter the week at No. 11 in the AVCA Top 15 Coaches Poll, and are led by middle blocker Matt Szews, who has 85 blocks, 27 aces and 185 kills on the season.

Price National and MIVA POTW
Behind a strong all-around performance in California, Fort Wayne native Tony Price was selected as the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week and MIVA Offensive Player of the Week. Price had 3.09 kills per set in three matches, including 15 in the three-set win over No. 14 Concordia Irvine. He had no errors on the Eagles home floor, leading to a .625 hitting clip. He also had 19 digs on the week, including nine at No. 3 UC Irvine. This is the fourth time this season that a Mastodon has been selected as a MIVA Player of the Week, and the first time since 2015 that a Fort Wayne player has been the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week. Price is the eighth Mastodon to earn the national award, and it is the 11th time overall award for the Fort Wayne program.

On That UC Irvine Win...
Fort Wayne defeated No. 3 UC Irvine on Wednesday, March 7, which was the first top-five win for the program since 2007 when the Mastodons topped No. 1 Pepperdine in the national semifinal. It was the ninth top-five win in program history. The Mastodons topped the Anteaters despite being out-blocked 22.5-7. Irvine's 22.5 blocks was the most in a single match by any team this season. This was also the Mastodons' first win over a ranked team this season.

Attaining 600
With a 3-0 sweep over No. 14 Concordia Irvine, the Mastodons reached 600 program victories. Fort Wayne is the only program that began in 1980 or later that has eclipsed this threshold. The 500th win came in 2011 by way of a 3-0 win over Carthage.

Dig Your Heels In
Junior transfer Kolbie Knorr had a career-high 21 digs in his return to his former institution, Quincy on Feb. 24. This is the most digs in a match by any player in the MIVA this season. Knorr's 21 digs was only two short of the Fort Wayne single-match record of 23, which was set by Mike Morici in 2005 at Quincy and matched by Luis Bertran in 2015 at Limestone. Knorr had seven of his digs in the fifth set against the Hawks. The 21 digs in a single match is the most by a MIVA player this season.

Career Night
Sophomore Pelegrin Vargas had a career-high 24 kills against Loyola on Feb. 16. Vargas' kill breakdown in the match by set was seven, three, seven, five and two. This is the most kills in a MIVA match this season by any individual. His previous career-high was 22 in a five-set win at Quincy in 2017. That was the match prior to his last match of 2017 before falling to injury.

There's Gonna Be So Much Winning
Fort Wayne has 10 more wins than last season, just 20 matches through the year. This is the most improved in the nation from the 2017 season to this season.

Double Trouble
Michael Keegan has four double-doubles on the season after a 47 assist/12 dig performance against No. 6 Loyola at home. He pushed his career double-double total to 13, with 10 of them coming on the road.

AVCA Top 15 'Dons
Fort Wayne moved into the AVCA Top 15 Coaches Poll on January 29, coming in at No. 15. The Mastodons were ranked for the first time since April 20, 2015, which was also a spot at No. 15. In the most recent poll, the Mastodons were ranked 15th.

Bringing Out the Brooms
Eight of Fort Wayne's victories so far this season have been sweeps. The Mastodons only dropped one set in January in a 3-1 win over Harvard.

Last Time Out
The Mastodons topped No. 14 Concordia Irvine by hitting .337 and holding the Eagles to a .144 clip. Tony Price led the 'Dons with five kills each set without committing an error. This was the Mastodons second ranked win of the week and season, as it was just three days after upsetting No. 3 UC Irvine.

Next Time Up
The Mastodons will continue their pair of matches with Ball State with a tilt in Muncie, Indiana on Saturday at 7:30. The 'Dons will then travel to Lewis and Loyola on Thursday (March 22) and Saturday (March 24).

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Fort Wayne Set For Wednesday Tilt With Ball State

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Players Mentioned

Richie Diedrich

Michael Keegan

Kolbie Knorr

Tony Price

Pelegrin Vargas

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics