With a pair of road victories this weekend over Bowling Green and Central Michigan, the Ball State women's volleyball team clinched at least a share of the Mid-American West Division title.
The Cardinals (18-7, 13-1 MAC) currently hold a three-match lead over second place Eastern Michigan and just one more win or one more EMU loss to take the title outright. Head coach Randy Litchfield said winning the MAC West is not enough for Ball State though.
"That championship is nice because you get a little wood plaque, but it is important because it guarantees us the first or second seed in the MAC tournament," Litchfield said. "I've said before that I'm not a big fan of divisional championships because they don't get you into the NCAA tournament, but it does have significance in seeding."
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"It feels really good to prove people wrong, but we're not done yet," senior outside attacker Katie Butts, who notched a season-high 27 kills on Friday, said. "We need to finish the rest of the season."
Ball State's weekend started Friday night with a 3-2 victory over Bowling Green. Litchfield was not totally satisfied with the Cardinals' performance in the win.
"We were very unemotional, lacked energy and ultimately did just enough to win the match, which on the upside for this team is what we do really well," Litchfield said. "We manage to do just enough to win."
The Cardinals have become masterful at doing just enough to win this season. The squad is a school best 9-0 in five-game matches this year. That is not necessarily a statistic that the team is proud of though.
"Hopefully we'll realize that it is a lot easier to win in three and we don't have to go to five," freshman outside attacker Sarah Obras said.
One of the bright spots on Friday for Ball State was the performance of senior middle attacker Nikki Allen who registered a match-high 10 total blocks, as well as career-highs of 16 kills, 26 attempts (tie) and a .500 hitting percentage. Allen credits her play to feeling of urgency
"I was playing with a sense of panic," Allen said. "I thought we were going to lose that game and I was scared."
On Saturday night, the Cardinals managed to defeat the Chippewas of Central Michigan in the minimum of three games.
This was the second consecutive weekend that Ball State followed up a five-game win with a three-game sweep.
"We're due to take that next step into becoming a more consistent team," Litchfield said. "We're still showing too many signs of youth in that we just stumble around too much."
Obras tallied her second double double of the weekend against CMU with 16 kills and 16 digs. Litchfield is pleased with how the freshman has stepped up her game as of late after going through a rough stretch.
"I thought that this weekend was that for sure sign that she's come out of it," Litchfield said. "She just looks fantastic right now."
While Litchfield was pleased with the team's performance on Saturday, he is still waiting for the Cardinals to get into a solid rhythm.
"We have four matches to really find our stride and I would love to have it at tournament time," Litchfield said.
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