There will be pre-match high fives. And there might even be a few ‘good lucks' between both teams.
But the match between Ball State and Toledo tonight in Worthen Arena at 7 p.m. will almost certainly not involve any good feelings between either team.
The two teams last met in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. Even though the Cardinals had just won the MAC Championship and were entering the tournament with a 25-4 record, the Rockets stunned them on their home court with a 3-0 win.
Now 10 months later, Ball State finally has its chance to redeem itself in the opening match of MAC play.
"This is the game we would want to play first coming off last year's loss," senior setter Brittany McGinnis said. "For me, personally, I was out there and I felt like I contributed to that game. There might be that extra fire from what happened last year."
While Toledo enters today's match against 11-2 Ball State with a mediocre 5-7 record, the Cardinals aren't taking the opposition for granted.
Toledo has fought through a brutal non-conference schedule up to this point, falling to the likes of top-25 teams in Michigan and Ohio State. The Rockets were also swept 0-3 by Michigan State, a team that gave Ball State the exact same treatment a week ago.
"They're an outstanding ball club," coach Steve Shondell said. "They've probably played the toughest schedule of anybody in the MAC West, and that's why they're 5-7. But they've competed with everybody. They're an excellent team."
Ball State has had a much easier time with its schedule so far, losing only to then 13th ranked Purdue and Michigan State since the start of the season.
In that time, the Cardinals have managed to develop the younger side of its roster to prepare for an intense MAC season.
Sophomore libero Catie Fredrich, who replaced former Libero of the Year Alyssa Rio, and senior defensive specialist Kaylee Schembra have helped Ball State hold its opponents to a .175 hitting percentage this season. Ball State held its opponents to a .174 percentage all of last season.
Sophomore middle blocker Mindy Marx has also emerged as Ball State's best blocker. She carries into today's match an average of .97 blocks per set and is coming off a career-high of 10 blocks against Sacred Heart last week.
But even with all of its talent shining early this season, Shondell is convinced MAC play will offer a whole different experience to test Ball State's abilities.
In fact, he's sure it'll offer a historically different test.
"Best league in history. There's no doubt in my mind," he said. "The MAC is clearly better than it's ever been. There's not a weak team in the MAC West, and any one of six teams could win it."
As for McGinnis, she's taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to judging how the conference will shape up this season.
When told that Shondell had called the MAC the best league in history, she said it wasn't anything she hasn't heard before.
"I think every year that I've played, [former coach] Dave [Boos] said that my freshman year, Dave said that my sophomore year, Steve said that last year and Steve said it this year," she said. "You don't really know until the first couple weekends go through, but I don't see any records that scream beatable."
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