A huge matchup with MIVA leader Ohio State University looms next weekend for the Ball State University men's volleyball team. However, this weekend the team needs to take care of business before it can focus on the Buckeyes.
On Friday, the Cardinals (8-6, 3-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) will make a six-hour trip to play Quincy University in a conference tilt before traveling to Carthage College Saturday.
Coach Joel Walton said the Cardinals have spent the past week working on offense and trying to get it caught up with the team's defense.
"We spent a pretty significant time working on offense, trying to get it to the next step," Walton said. "After last weekend, we feel pretty good about our defense. Our blocking and serving were all strong."
Offensively, Walton said a couple of his hitters were getting into predictable hitting patterns. To combat that, he worked in some different attack routes and rotations.
Ball State split its conference matches with IPFW and Loyola last weekend. The Cardinals upset the then No. 6 Mastodons Friday, but ran out of energy against the Ramblers.
"We found something out about ourselves and how much energy we need to spend on one team versus another," senior Nick Meyer said. "We spent it all on Friday and we understood we were pretty flat on Saturday against Loyola. We have to have the same kind of energy both nights [this weekend]."
Defensively, Ball State will have to contend with the Hawks' two outside hitters, Peter Coley and Patrick Reidy. Coley leads the team with 120 kills, while Reidy has recorded 101.
"They have a couple of really tall attackers," Walton said. "They've got one on the left side [Coley] who's 6-foot-8 or 6-foot-9, and he can be a handful. We got to make sure we set our defense and prevent him from getting on track."
Saturday's opponent, Carthage, comes into the match with a 12-5 record, and is 4-0 in the MIVA Coleman Division. The Red Men defeated Lewis University 3-1 Tuesday night, a team the Cardinals beat by the same score.
"They have the same players from last year," Meyer said. "We were in a fight with them [at home last year] and we kind of took them for granted and we were fortunate enough to beat them at their place. They [won] a game off of Ohio State at Ohio State and we're going into [Carthage's] gym. We got to be ready to play against a really, really good team."
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