In 2011, Ball State made a trip to play Northern Illinois and Western Michigan, and it ended in two difficult losses.
This season's trip felt far to similar.
Last year's trip ended the Mid-American Conference schedule with Ball State totaling only six losses overall. On Saturday, Ball State (9-8) ended the trip 0-2 and added its eighth loss of the year after losing to Western Michigan (10-6) in four sets (25-11, 25-21, 20-25, 25-19) and as the MAC schedule gets underway.
Coach Steve Shondell said it was just a matter of Ball State digging itself too big of a hole to start the match.
"We actually ended the trip playing our best volleyball of the weekend in the last two and a half games of the match tonight," Shondell said. "We didn't get off the bus like we needed to. We were just a step slow for a game and a half."
The loss was riddled with service errors similar to Ball State's four set (22-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-17) loss on Friday against Northern Illinois (12-8). The Cardinals committed 13 serving errors against Western Michigan, and Shondell said the team had issues with the ball again.
The serving issues are something Shondell hasn't seen from his team before.
"It's the first time we've ever experienced it in three years, having so many service errors in back-to-back matches," Shondell said. "Most of those errors came in the first game and a half tonight."
Ball State had 16 service errors in its match against Northern Illinois, especially in the first set. But later in the match, the Cardinals committed serving errors that stalled potential runs to get back into the match.
"It was just one of those nights," he said. "It's just really disheartening to get back into it and give the ball back and give them [Nothern Illinois] a free point."
Freshman setter/outside hitter Jenna Spadafora rebounded after a difficult match against Northern Illinois by posting 11 kills on a .308 attack percentage. Spadafora has been replacing junior outside hitter Kylee Baker, who has now missed three straight matches.
Senior outside hitter Kara Bates fell back to earth after a run of strong performances as she hit .267 on 11 kills. Bates also recorded 10 digs in the loss.
Ball State will return home to Worthen Arena on Friday to play Central Michigan at 7 p.m. after dropping its last five matches on the road.
Shondell said he knows Ball State is taking everyone's best shot in the MAC right now, but he expects his team to settle down and bounce back in Muncie. Northern Illinois swept Central Michigan in three sets in the opening week of the MAC schedule.
"We play really well at home," Shondell said. "We just got to learn to get comfortable playing on the road. We have all of these new players that are going into these conference venues for the first time. We'll get more confident as the season goes on."
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