Before the men's volleyball team resumes its battle for position in the conference standings Saturday, it will get a break from league play Friday.
Not much of a break, though. The Cardinals face defending NAIA champion William Woods at home Friday and head to Midwestern Intercollegiate Vol-leyball Association rival IPFW Saturday.
Although William Woods is a smaller school and doesn't play in the NCAA, it is still a dangerous team, Ball State head coach Joel Walton said.-á
The Owls went to Loyola-Chicago, where the Cardinals lost in straight sets Feb. 14 earlier this season and beat the Ramblers. William Woods also won one game in its match against Lewis. Ball State has lost in straight sets to Lewis twice this year.
Friday night will also be a big match because it is Senior Night. It will mark the last regular season game Matt Denmark, Kyle Weindel, Josh Hall, Josh Zuidema and Josh Lee will ever play in Worthen Arena. If Ball State finishes fourth or higher in the MIVA, it will host a first round game in the conference tournament.
"We will miss that group of guys," Walton said. "They all can be very proud of what they've accomplished the last three seasons."
The five seniors played key roles last year when the Cardinals made it to the NCAA Final Four in volleyball.
When the Cardinals travel to Fort Wayne Saturday, they will be fighting to move into the second or third spot in the MIVA. Currently, the team is one game behind Ohio State, with three conference matches left.
Because the IPFW match is so important, Walton said he would like to use some bench players against William Woods to keep his starters fresh for Saturday. The Owls, however, are too good Walton said, to play just the second-string.
"I have to try to figure out ways to put lineups on the floor that keep as many starters fresh for Saturday as possible, but still have a strong team on Friday," Walton said.
Walton has said that the final three weekends of the season will show if the Cardinals can compete well on back-to-back nights, something they will have to do to win the MIVA tournament.
Last weekend the team beat the second team in the conference, Loyola, at home, then struggled against the eighth team, Findlay, on the road. Walton said fatigue played a part in the poor performance, but not having freshman middle attacker Zoran Grabovac hurt also.
The Cardinals will need all the help they can get against IPFW and their senior outside attacker Jeff Ptak. In the first match against Ball State on Feb. 28, the Cardinals held Ptak in check, limiting him to seven kills and a .087 hitting percentage.
Walton knows that Ptak is highly capable of putting up big numbers. Against Loyola on March 21, he had 43 kills while hitting .603. Walton said that is the highest individual number of kills in the NCAA this season.
In order for the Cardinals to move up in the league standings, Walton said they must win the final four games of the season.-á It will be a difficult task, but something his team can accomplish.
"It will be tough to win out," Walton said. "It's something we're capable of doing. I'll be disappointed if we don't, but it's not something where we can just show up and it will happen."
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