Losing the top two offensive threats for any team can instantly create problems.
It’s no different for the Ball State men’s volleyball team after graduating Greg Herceg and Jamion Hartley, the two top offensive players last season.
Head coach Joel Walton’s team is experiencing an adjustment period on offense, unsure of which players should get the most opportunities to attack.
The starting lineup constantly changes, and Walton said he expects it to continue to change until the offense starts producing better.
“We’re trying to find a group that can produce offense, play good defense [and] work together well on the court,” Walton said. “They need to play with energy, competitiveness and the passion we’re looking for.”
He mixed things up Friday by starting junior Shane Witmer at libero against Saint Francis. Normally an outside attacker, Witmer finished with a team-high eight digs in the game. Ball State lost three out of four sets, in a fashion Walton described as “lackluster.”
Throughout the first four matches, nothing seems to have gone as planned. Sophomore outside attacker Marcin Niemczewski led the team with a career-high 18 kills, breaking his old career-high just one match after he set it against Sacred Heart.
Although his sudden emergence has been a needed blessing for Ball State, both Walton and Niemczewski said after the Sacred Heart match that the rise was unexpected. His 45 kills are close to doubling the 26 from senior outside attacker Larry Wrather, who is the next highest kill leader.
Wrather’s contributions have been necessary, but also have not been a part of Walton’s original offseason plans. He intended for Wrather to play a more secondary role in the offense and take on a more dominant role as libero, but that opportunity hasn’t surfaced because they’ve needed him for offense.
The offense, which could be best described as both varied and inconsistent, has had three different players lead the team in kills through four matches. Senior middle attacker Kevin Owens led with eight kills against UC Irvine and Niemczewski led with 15 and 18 against Sacred Heart and Saint Francis. For the Penn State game Saturday, Niemczewski and Wrather tied for the high with 11.
“We’re still early in the year, and I need to see what some of these guys are capable of,” Walton said. “I’m trying to put them into situations where they’ll be successful.”
Players like Witmer and junior outside attacker Matt Sutherland have combined for 20 kills through the first four matches, a low number after Walton said during the offseason that he was hoping for them to be strong contributors to the offense.
“We’re still really tweaking our group and essentially played two different starting groups over the weekend,” Walton said. “A big change for us was when we brought in Shane as an attacker and blocker against Penn State.”
Witmer had seven total blocks against the Nittany Lions as the Cardinals took the first set before dropping the next three, but provided energy that Walton was looking for.
He said he also liked what he saw out of freshman outside attacker Brendan Surane and junior libero David Ryan Vander Meer over the weekend and wants to see them have expanded roles in the future.
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