It's been a trying week for the Ball State University women's volleyball team. After losing both starting libero Alyssa Rio and defensive specialist Hannah Sullivan, the Cardinals have been left scrambling to prepare to host the Active Ankle Challenge this weekend at Worthen Arena."The realization is crystallizing with everyone," coach Dave Boos said. "Everyone is being asked to expand their roles and do things they haven't had to do for us in the past because of our injury situation."Rio will be out due to a hamstring injury and Sullivan's status is unknown after sitting out practice all week with back pain. Whether Sullivan will play will most likely be a game-time decision according to assistant coach Hugh Hernesman."I really hope I get to play," Sullivan said while sitting out practice earlier this week. "I want to play."Plenty of time has been spent in practice running ball-handling drills, in addition to giving players time in different positions to make them feel more comfortable in case they are needed to step up over the weekend in a different role.One possibility of a lineup change would be starting setter Brittany McGinnis moving to the outside hitter spot that she occupied Saturday against Coastal Carolina University, where she tallied 11 kills. It's a position that McGinnis is comfortable at because she played there in high school."We don't know exactly what we're going to do with the lineup," McGinnis said. "I played outside hitter in high school and loved playing there. It was fun getting to play there last week."With McGinnis moving over, redshirt freshman Andrea Felton would step into the setter role and Christie Waters would take the libero spot in the backcourt sharing time with Kaylee Schembra.Even with lineup concerns, Boos is focused on bringing the attitude from practice onto the court for game time."We have to play the way we practice, no tightness or nerves," Boos said. "We've been coming out either too amped up or too nervous and we need to balance that out."The competition taking to the court in the Active Ankle Challenge will be a test for the Cardinals. On Friday, Ball State (0-3) plays host to IPFW (2-2) at 7:30 p.m. The Mastadons enter the weekend with wins over Butler University and Kent State University.On Saturday the Cardinals play SIU-Edwardsville (0-4) at 12:30 p.m. and No. 17 Louisville (1-2) at 7:30 p.m."The benefit of hosting our own tournament is that we get a favorable schedule and our kids get to rest in their own beds," Boos said. "We've still got a challenge with Louisville though. They have fantastic frontline players who have a lot of power. It will be their power against our ball control."Ball State leads the overall series with IPFW 7-3 including the Cardinal's 3-0 win over the Mastadons at home last year. Louisville holds an 8-6 advantage in the series, but the Cardinals hold the distinction of the last win, when Ball State knocked off then 17th-ranked Louisville to end the 2003 season. SUI-Edwardsville and Ball State have never faced each other.
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