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The budding rivalry between BYU and Ball State will continue in 2024.
BYU as part of unveiling its regular season schedule announced it will open the upcoming season with a two-match non-conference home series against Ball State on Jan. 5-6.
This will be the third consecutive year that the Cougars and Cardinals have played each other in a two-match series. The teams have split both series the last two years, including last season’s matchup at Ball State.
Both BYU and Ball State return a majority of starters after ending last season in the top 10 of the national rankings.
The Cougars finished in second place in the MPSF and narrowly missed the final at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament last season. All-MPSF outside attacker Miks Ramanis was among the national leaders with a 3.26 kills per game average and had double-digit kills in every match during BYU’s eight-match winning streak to close out the regular season.
BYU also went 14-0 at home last season.
Ball State came within one match of repeating as MIVA champions and lost to Ohio State in the 2023 conference tournament finals. In addition, outside attacker Tinaishe Ndavazocheva in their first season at Ball State was in the nation’s top 25 averaging 3.60 kills per game and earned All-MIVA honors.
BYU leads the all-time series against Ball State 14-6 and has won nine of the last 10 meetings at Smith Fieldhouse.
This series will be the first of four matches that the Cougars will play against MIVA teams to open the season. BYU following the Ball State series will travel to play Loyola on Jan. 11 and Lewis on Jan. 13.
BYU 2024 regular season schedule
Jan. 5 vs. Ball State
Jan. 6 vs. Ball State
Jan. 11 at Loyola
Jan. 13 at Lewis
Jan. 19 at UC Santa Barbara
Jan. 20 at UC Santa Barbara
Jan. 22 vs. Princeton
Jan. 23 vs. Princeton
Jan. 26 vs. UC Irvine
Jan. 27 vs. UC Irvine
Feb. 8 vs. Long Island
Feb. 10 vs. Long Island
Feb. 16 vs. Grand Canyon
Feb. 17 vs. Grand Canyon
Feb. 23 vs. UCLA
Feb. 24 vs. UCLA
March 8 at Stanford
March 9 at Stanford
March 22 at Pepperdine
March 23 at Pepperdine
March 29 vs. Concordia Irvine
March 30 vs. Concordia Irvine
April 5 at USC
April 6 at USC