Avila & Wassink Named Scholar-Athletes of the Week
Female Scholar Athlete of the Week
Ball State's Kate Avila, Volleyball - Libero (Senior, 3.978, Speech Language Pathology)
Ball State libero Kate Avila celebrated her senior weekend on a high note, putting together her best weekend of the season to guide the Cardinals to a third consecutive Mid-American Conference West Division Championship. The Yorktown, Indiana, native averaged an astonishing 6.75 dig per set to led a Ball State backcourt which averaged 23.50 digs per set and held the opposition to a .180 (117-50-372) attack percentage. She collected match-highs of 26 digs versus Eastern Michigan and 28 digs versus Central Michigan. In addition, she continued her assault on the Ball State record books, with her 54 digs raising her career total to 2,170 which is 104 shy of breaking the program record of 2,273 set by Avila’s high school coach Stephanie Keller (2002-05) during her playing days with the Cardinals. Avila also led Ball State from the service line, with six aces on the weekend, including a career-high tying four in Friday’s win over the Eagles. One more career note from the weekend, with her eight sets play over the two matches, Avila has now played in all 474 career sets for Ball State; more than any other player to ever don the Cardinal and White.
Male Scholar Athlete of the Week
Western Michigan's Jon Wassink, Football - Quarterback (Senior, 3.75, Accountancy)
Senior quarterback Jon Wassink was instrumental in Western Michigan’s 37-34 victory versus Ohio last Tuesday. Wassink completed 23-of-34 passes for 322 yards and three touchdowns while adding 17 rushing yards. Wassink’s 23 completions lifted his career total to 480, surpassing Ryan Cubit (2004-06/459) for seventh in Western Michigan history. Wassink’s three TD passes raised his career total to 49, tied with Brad Tayles (1989-92/49) for the fifth most in program history. Wassink’s 322 passing yards were his first game reaching 200 yards since totaling 303 at Toledo on October 5 and his fourth 300-yard game of the campaign. Wassink’s performance helped the Broncos improve to 5-2 in Mid-American Conference games for the first time under head coach Tim Lester. WMU was 4-3 through seven league games in Lester’s first two years. Western Michigan earned its first road win of the season, and first road victory since topping Central Michigan 35-10 on October 20, 2018.
