Early in a season, it is difficult to determine the exact skill level of a team. After this weekend, a clearer picture should show what Ball State men’s volleyball team is made of.
After playing its first game against St. Francis at home, Ball State will take a road trip to the east coast for its next two matches. The Cardinals take on the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Highlanders on Friday and the Sacred Heart Pioneers on Saturday.
This week started with the first video session for the team since its annual alumni match, in which they reviewed their opening season match sweep of St. Francis. And while coach Joel Walton and his assistants divvied their time preparing a game plan for both the Highlanders and the Pioneers, the team spent the rest of the week dedicated to preparing for NJIT.
Walton the strategy might leave them a bit underprepared for the Sacred Heart match, but the team will still have time to digest the plan of attack for the Pioneers.
To be prepared for the NJIT match, Walton stressed that the Highlanders is a solid squad, with excellent distribution patterns.
“[NJIT’s] setter really spreads the offense around,” Walton said. “They have a lot of guys taking a lot of swings.”
In NJIT’s only match of the season against Grand Canyon (lost 1-3), it had five players with at least 17 kill attempts and three with at least 10 kills. Outside hitters Chris Kaepernick and Kajetan Borecki are integral parts to NJIT’s offense, and Walton knows the Cardinals have to slow them down.
“We have to keep [NJIT] off balance with our serves,” Walton said. “We also have to make sure our blockers are in good form.”
Middle hitter Ryan Mather for Grand Canyon paced his team, and, looking at the numbers, seemed to impose his will of the Highlanders. Seeing this it will be interesting to see how Ball State’s middle attacker junior Kevin Owens will fair, given outside attacker senior Greg Herceg carried most of the offensive load for the Cardinals in their first match.
Scouting Sacred Heart is a difficult proposition, as well. The Pioneers have played one match in the season, which was against Grand Canyon (lost 3-1).
In their match against Grand Canyon, the Pioneers did not let one player dominate against them, unlike how NJIT let Mather. This will force Ball State setter junior Graham Mcllvaine to distribute the ball to different members of his team.
A surprise from Sacred Heart’s only match was the 18 kills from junior Jason Kinney, who is actually listed as a setter himself, but has clearly taken on a new role. The attacker Ball State knows it must focus on though is junior outside hitter Enzo Mackenzie.
“We’ve seen [Enzo] for the last couple seasons,” Walton said. “He sees a lot of sets, and we have to get our blockers side by side when he goes up.”
Walton stressed that the team’s level of intensity will be a crucial factor in both matches. After a collective 12 hours and 30 minutes on a bus and a match 24 hours before, this might prove to be a challenge, but no excuses will be heard by the coach.
“We have to step up,” Walton said, “and be ready to go,”.
