Inconsistent offense errors continue to plague Ball State

After failing to win a set against No. 2 Lewis or No. 1 Loyola over the weekend, the Ball State men's volleyball team has been swept in three consecutive matches.  

"We need to come together as a team; that's the most important thing," senior libero David Ryan Vander Meer said. "We need to come out and play as a team and have some fun, because that's what this is all about."

Against Lewis, Ball State finished with an attack percentage of .179, well below its season's average of .283. Ball State fared better offensively in it second match, with a .240 attack percentage, but allowed Loyola an attack percentage of .373.

Coming into the weekend, head coach Joel Walton wanted to see more offensive production from his seniors, specifically Matt Sutherland and Shane Witmer, who have struggled of late. 

"We ran some good offense at times," Walton said. "We're still figuring out to get our outside attacking going, as that continues to be a struggle for us."

Ball State struggled with service errors over the weekend as well, accumulating 31 - 12 against Lewis and 19 against Loyola - in its two games. The Cardinals almost doubled the amount of service errors of their opponents 31-17.

"Serving was an issue ... we struggled putting a good serve in play consistently," Walton said. "At times, when we would start to develop momentum, we would end that momentum with a missed serve."

The amount of missed serves stops any momentum the Cardinals build, making it almost impossible to keep a consistent flow on offense. The past three matches, Ball State has registered 42 of its 157 service errors this season. 

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