An improper substitution call and the resulting three-minute delay in Ball State's match against Virginia Commonwealth University couldn't have come at a worse time for coach Steve Shondell.
Ball State's women's volleyball team had already taken the first set and was up 13-10 until an improper substitution was called as Ball State extended its lead to 14-10. The result was a 13-11 game and a momentum changing delay, Shondell said.
"The whole match changed on that simple improper substitution," Shondell said. "They fought back, and it was dog-eat-dog from that point on. I thought we played our hearts out in that match."
VCU ended up taking the next three sets (25-21, 23-25, 22-25, 21-25) to hand Ball State its first loss of the year on Saturday.
VCU was dominant at the net, forcing errors and out-blocking Ball State 17.5-8. Shondell said earlier in the week VCU was likely the most athletic team Ball State would play. The players' size and blocking gave Ball State attack fits. The Cardinals finished the match with a .146 attack percentage.
"The key fact was being out-blocked 17.5-8," Shondell said. "There's the difference in the match right there."
Ball State got away from its style of play, junior setter Jacqui Seidel said.
"We just weren't use to the physicality," Seidel said. "They were just a great block[ing team]. They're a really athletic team, and we had to match that. We had to take over with our ball control, so when that struggled, it just hurt the offense."
Junior outside hitter Kylee Baker and junior opposite attacker Lauren Grant earned double digit kills for Ball State. Baker added 10 digs for her 16th career double-double.
Ball State rebounded in the second match of the day at the Ball State Active Ankle Challenge with a four set win over Illinois State (25-18, 25-15, 17-25, 25-18).
"It was good to see that we can play the kind of volleyball that we need to play," Shondell said. "We [have] got to keep building now on that. If we had another match where we had a lot of serving errors and a lot of hitting errors, it would really concern me."
Even though Ball State struggled with miscommunication during both matches on Saturday, Baker said the team is still learning to play together.
"The last two years we've had that core group," Baker said. "We had two years together, so now there are new faces here so it's just a matter time. I think this last match we totally came together and pulled through.'
Ball State easily controlled the first two sets of the match before dropping the third set, committing nine attack errors during the set. The Cardinals rebounded in the fourth set, but Baker said the team should have ended the match in three.
Seidel finished with 40 assists and 16 digs in the win over Illinois State. Senior outside hitter Kara Bates, junior middle blocker Mindy Marx and Baker each finished with double digit kills.
Despite playing so well in the opener against Gardner-Webb, Shondell said his team played better in the two matches on Satuday.
"I really felt that our play this year in this tournament was even higher than it was a year ago," Shondell said. "This year, the tournament was just a bit stronger than last year."
Shondell said there were three major areas the team had to work on in 24 hours before traveling to IPFW on Tuesday before admitting much of it would come later in the week.
"We are still a work in progress as far as getting our offense into a good flow," he said. "When you got a team that hasn't played together all that much, it takes time to get that in. That's going to improve."
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