Upcoming Schedule
Fri, Mar 04 - at Grand Canyon
Sat, Mar 05 - at Grand Canyon
Mon, Mar 07 - at UCLA
Sun, Mar 13 - vs. Mount Olive
The Ball State men’s volleyball team's win streak is now at 10 matches — the recent success has come from a variety of players in the starting lineup.
Head coach Joel Walton has implemented a plan that not only gives a lot of the roster playing time but also keeps each player fresh all the while.
“We’ve been able to get a lot of different players on our team stepping in when given the opportunity and taking advantage of that with good performances,” Walton said.
During the team's victory over Quincy on Feb. 25 and Lindenwood on Feb. 26, there were two different right-side outside attackers who saw starting action.
Against Quincy, junior outside attacker Brendan Surane got the start, finishing the match with a team-high 12 kills.
On the second night of back-to-back action, it was senior Marcin Niemczewski who led, with 12 kills against Lindenwood.
Walton and his coaching staff have used a number of starting lineups and rotations as the year has progressed.
“Keeping [Niemczewski] fresh last night and having him ready to go tonight worked out well for us. He played a very good match on fresh legs,” Walton said following the 3-0 victory over Lindenwood.
Walton said while he decided who to play on a match-up basis, he likes having the versatility to play many different players at one position.
“Having the opportunity to play both Niemczewski and Surane on the right side and get good performances from them allows us, if we want to, to play a different personal set each night and make sure our team is fresh on that second night of the weekend,” he said.
Junior outside attacker Mike Scannell has seen increased playing time after returning from his concussion earlier in the season. Scannell led the team in kills for four consecutive matches (Lewis University, Loyola University, Barton College and Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne).
Similarly, redshirt junior outside attacker Edgardo Cartagena stepped in and played libero after freshman Adam Wessel seemed fatigued from the six-game road trip.
Walton attributes much of his team's successes to its ability to have multiple guys performing well in various areas.
“I don’t know that I can say, 'This one player has impressed me,'" Walton said. "It kind of gets back to why I think our team has played well through this early part of the season. ... We're getting different performances from different players on given nights."
After a six-match home stretch, the Cardinals will go out west over Spring Break for a double-header against Grand Canyon and a match in California against the University of California Los Angeles March 7.
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