With victories over Kent State Friday and Buffalo Saturday, the Ball State women's volleyball team upped its record to 10-6 overall and 5-0 in the Mid-American Conference. The wins rested on opposite ends of the sports spectrum, though.
On Friday night, the Cardinals played host to the Golden Flashes of Kent State. Kent State took the 1-0 lead with a 34-32 victory in Game 1, and followed with a 30-28 win in Game 2 to take a 2-0 lead.
"I told them during the intermission that I was ready to take a loss," head coach Randy Litchfield said. "I don't know that anything I said was very motivational. I was pretty angry."
Freshman outside attacker Sarah Obras, who tied Butts for match-high kills with 23, disagreed that her coach's comments were not inspirational.
"I think that was motivational," Obras said. "We stepped it up from that right there. Everybody did their part and that's all we needed to do and it showed."
After the break, the Cards took the next three games handily to win the match.
"We changed our attitude out there," senior outside attacker Katie Butts said. "We started getting really excited after big points. When you change your attitude, you'll play a lot better."
Litchfield was not surprised to see Kent State so competitive in the match.
"It was very typical of what Ball State volleyball sees regularly," Litchfield said. "We are targeted by everybody."
Litchfield apparently became a target for the officials during the match and received two yellow cards.
"It is totally wrong of me to comment on officiating," Litchfield said. "But some matches are called loosely, some are called tightly. Tonight was a loosely called match and I happen to be one who prefers a tighter called match."
The Bulls of Buffalo entered Worthen Arena Saturday night looking to hand Ball State its first MAC loss of the year, while securing their first MAC win. The Cardinals had different plans, though.
In the match, the Cardinals hit a season-high .323 (44-12-99) on their way to shutting out the Bulls 3-0.
"It is just great to finally win in three," said junior backcourt player Meredith Fancher. "It was time to get a win in three."
To avoid a similar scenario to the previous night, Ball State planned before the match what it needed to focus on in order to win.
"We agreed on some very specific performance goals and we analyzed them game-by-game," Litchfield said.
The plan worked and resulted in a Ball State victory that Litchfield was happy with.
"It feels great to play real well tonight and win," said Litchfield. "We've now strung together six straight games where our performance has been excellent. It has been dating back to last year that we've been able to say that."
With the pair of wins, Ball State now has two fewer MAC loses than any other MAC West school. It is a position of comfort, but not of total relaxation according to Litchfield.
"We know you don't win championships in the first half of the season, but you can lose them," Litchfield said. "We're allowing ourselves to be free of at least a little pressure with a lead like this."
The key for the Cardinals now is to keep that momentum going.
"We have to stay positive and not let up" said senior attacker Nikki Allen.
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