With Mid-American Conference play a little over a week away, it's time for one last tune-up before Northern Illinois University and Western Michigan University come calling next weekend. The final non-conference tilts will send the women's volleyball team to Maryland for the Towson Invitational.
"It's always fun to see different teams we haven't seen or really heard of before," sophomore setter Brittany McGinnis said. "The only difficult part of a short week like this is keeping up on the school work because our coaching staff does a great job on the scouting reports."
The Cardinals are riding a hot streak heading into the Towson Invitational with four straight wins, all on the road, which includes the Best Western Indiana State University Classic championship, the first tournament win for the program since the 2005 Georgetown Hoya Classic.
The latest win was a straight-sets victory over IUPUI (8-2) Tuesday night in Indianapolis.
"We're pretty confident right now. We're beating teams we should be beating," McGinnis said. "We've also learned who we are and who we are not as a team, which is important."
Team awareness will be valuable for the Cardinals as they will face teams from three different conferences - the Colonial Athletic Association's Towson University (7-4), Ivy League's Penn University (6-1), and the Atlantic-10's George Washington (5-4).
"We anticipate three unique styles from Towson, Penn, and George Washington," coach Dave Boos said. "At this point in the season we've seen just about everything you can see so it's just fine tuning and adjusting to their styles."
One strength of the Cardinals during their four game win streak has been the front line's ability to play more physical and increase both their offensive and defensive output. "The biggest focus has been at the net. We wanted and needed to become more physical and we've done that," Boos said. "Everyone has stepped up and it shows with the increased hitting percentage as well as the blocks. We are expecting even more results with our work on blocks though."
Since breaking into the lineup two weeks ago, sophomore Kelsey Brandl has made her presence felt at the net. Brandl tallied a career high seven blocks, two solo and five assisted, against IUPUI.
"Kelsey has come in and is making a push for playing time," Boos said. "She's one of our most physical players and will be an asset for us."
Defensively, sophomores Kaylee Schembra and Christie Waters will continue to hold down the fort in the backcourt for Ball State. Waters leads the team in digs per set with 3.57 while Schembra has gained notice for passing the ball well in recent weeks.
"My biggest concern for the weekend is physical and mental fatigue," Boos said. "Having played Tuesday night and then playing two games Friday afternoon will really test us since two games on Friday isn't the normal schedule."
Penn awaits Ball State Friday afternoon to kick off the Towson Invitational. The two squads will begin play at 12 p.m. After a brief break, the Cardinals return to the floor at 4:30 p.m. for a showdown with George Washington, and a 10 a.m. curtain call against Towson Saturday rounds out the non-conference schedule for Ball State.
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