It's never easy to win a match when unforced errors litter the stat sheet, but Ball State (9-7) has fared well enough for most of the season despite struggling with errors.
Traveling to Northern Illinois (11-8) was a different story though. Ball State made 27 unforced errors and fell in four sets (22-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-17) to Northern Illinois on Friday.
Coach Steve Shondell said having to play on Northern Illinois's home floor was a huge issue for his team.
"It was a real hostile environment," Shondell said. "They [Northern Illinois] just play in a little cracker box where you can't even communicate with your players on the court. You can't communicate with them during timeouts. The noise just ricochets off the walls."
Ball State was able to take the first set in what Shondell said was a poorly played set on both sides. After the early advantage, though, Northern Illinois took over from there.
"It was like we were run over by a freight train tonight," Shondell said. "They just steamrolled us."
The Cardinals finished the match with 16 service errors and Shondell said the ball played a factor after the team and staff noticed the difference in warm-ups.
Despite the struggles, Ball State managed to put up a solid effort in the attack. Senior outside hitter Kara Bates posted 19 kills on .395 attack percentage.
Freshman setter/outside hitter Jenna Spadafora couldn't replicate her performance last weekend against Akron on Friday with junior outside hitter Kylee Baker sitting out again.
Shondell had said earlier in the week he was unsure of what she would be able to do away from Worthen Arena and Spadafora followed up with a .100 percentage on 20 attempts.
The style of play gave the Cardinals fits as Northern Illinois used quick sets to keep Ball State's blocking off guard, Shondell said.
Ball State travels to Western Michigan to cap its road trip starting at 5 p.m. Saturday.
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