MUNCIE, Ind. — The No. 5 BYU men's volleyball team is set to face No. 6 Ball State on Thursday, Jan. 16 and Friday, Jan. 17 in Muncie, Indiana for its first Top 10 matchup of the 2025 season.
COUGARS (4-0)
BYU swept St. Thomas Aquinas College in a pair of matches in its 2025 home opener last week, advancing to 4-0 on the season. On Saturday's match, BYU earned a record-breaking 0.597 team hitting percentage, its third-highest in a single game in BYU men’s volleyball history.
Keoni Thiim leads the team in kills and aces with 61 and 10, respectively. Thiim has also recorded at least one ace in every single game this season. MPSF Player of the Week (Jan. 6) Luke Benson has recorded double-digit kills in three of BYU’s four matches this season. The senior’s lowest hitting percentage so far this season was .375, averaging a team-high .464 clip for all BYU outside hitters.
CARDINALS (3-1)
Ball State is coming off two matches on the road at Stanford. The Cardinals split their weekend matches, winning the first in a 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-16) sweep before falling to Stanford 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 30-28) the next day.
Two impactful returners for Ball State include senior outside hitter Tinaishe Ndavazocheva and junior outside hitter Patrick Rogers. Ndavazocheva and Rogers were named to the Preseason All-MIVA team, along with Cardinal newcomer Rajé Alleyne.
Ball State's assistant coach Christian Rupert was a middle blocker for BYU from 2015-2018. He helped the Cougars make appearances in the NCAA Championship match in 2016 and 2017 and reach the semifinals in 2018.
COUGARS VS CARDINALS
BYU and Ball State have faced each other every season in the last four years. Last year, BYU hosted Ball State in its 2024 season opener, sweeping the Cardinals 3-0 in back-to-back matches.
BROADCAST INFO
- Thursday, Jan. 16 on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET
- Friday, Jan. 17 on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET