With sole possession of first place in the Mid-American WestDivision, the Ball State women's volleyball team hits the road thisweekend for a pair of matches against division rivals NorthernIllinois and Western Michigan.
The Huskies are first up for the Cardinals on Friday. Ball State(10-10, 5-3 MAC) beat Northern Illinois (14-7, 3-5 MAC) on Sept. 26in Worthen Arena 3-1.
NIU is slumping and dropped three matches last week, but headcoach Randy Litchfield said the Huskies still pose a threat.
"Northern Illinois will be a lot different style match than whenwe first met them," he said. "The first time around they wereplaying great, and I thought we did a great job of completelytaking them out of their game. Right now, they're reeling a littlebit, and I think they are a little desperate. Those are the teamsthat scare me."
Victor E. Court, the home of Northern Illinois, has given theCardinals headaches in the past. Ball State is 5-9 all-time inDeKalb, Ill.
"They've typically gotten rowdy, enthusiastic fans," Litchfieldsaid. "They've always really enjoyed playing us at their place.They build it up as a big match just like we do when they come andplay here."
On Saturday, Ball State will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., to meetwith the Broncos (14-7, 4-4 MAC) for the first time this season.WMU's reputation as a hard-hitting team precedes it, though. That,coupled with the Cards past difficulties against such teams, isenough to worry Litchfield.
"Western Michigan is a really physical volleyball team withtheir hitting and blocking," he said. "That concerns me becausethat is the way Ohio plays, and we did not do very well in thatmatch."
Litchfield said Ball State will have to turn the match to itsstyle of play to win against the Broncos.
"Our strengths are really the opposite of theirs," he said. "Thebest way to beat a hitting and blocking team is to keep the ballalive and win in long rallies. I feel that our ball control willwin out the longer we compete for points. If we let them hit andblock for points, this match will go their way."
For the first-place Cards, this weekend has grown exceedinglyimportant.
"To get two wins on the road at this stage of the season wouldbe huge for us," Litchfield said. "I think this is one of thoseweekends that you can look back on and feel like it either makesyou or breaks you."
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