CHICAGO (April 7, 2022) -- The MIVA regular season is coming down to the wire as the No. 11 Loyola University Chicago men's volleyball team plays its final two games of the regular season. The first game is the most important as the Ramblers take on the No. 7 Ball State Cardinals. Tonight's game will decide who the regular season champion is. 

LAST TIME OUT
The Ramblers concluded their last road series at Quincy, where they came out with a 3-0 win over the Hawks to put them at 11-23 in the MIVA. In this win, outside hitters Cole Schlothauer and Henry Payne made significant contributions to help with the sweep. 

CHALLENGING THE CARDINALS
No. 7 Ball State has been one of the toughest teams in the NCAA this year. They defeated then-No. 1 Hawaii twice and only lost two sets -- one to BYU and one to the Ramblers. 

Senior outside hitter Kaleb Jenness is one of the best offensive players when looking at the numbers. He is second in the nation and first in the MIVA in kills per set with 4.64. Quinn Isaacson is the commander of this offense. He leads the NCAA in assists, averaging 11.56 per set. He is also fourth in the MIVA in digs per set as he roughly gets 2.07 per set. 

As a team, they rank No. 1 in three different statistical categories: assists per set, kills per set and match win-loss percentage. They are also a top five team in all but two categories.

Head Coach Donan Cruz is in his first season as the head coach of the Cardinals, and he has pushed this program since Day 1. This is one of best seasons the Cardinals have had in recent history. The last time Ball State won the outright MIVA title was in 1997.

WHEREABOUTS
The Ramblers will hit the floor against the Cardinals in Gentile Arena with first serve at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will also be available.