As students head to exotic locations for spring break next week, the men's volleyball team will take a road trip of its own.
After playing eight of the last nine games at home over the last month, the Cardinals (10-4, 5-3) play their next five on the road.
The team will travel to the vacation paradise of Dubuque, Iowa, to play Clark and then to Chicago to play Lewis before flying to Long Beach, Cal., to play in a tournament.
If the cross-country travel wasn't enough, the Cardinals will play the four games in six days.
The most significant of the battles over spring break, in head coach Joel Walton's eyes, is Tuesday's match against Lewis.
"Our ultimate test is going to be against Lewis," he said.
Lewis is 13-2 overall and a perfect 6-0 in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. The Flyers are also ranked No. 5 and have only lost two sets in their six MIVA matches.
The Cardinals are seeking to avenge a 3-0 loss to Lewis on Feb. 1 in which, Walton said, the Flyers dominated the match.
About two hours before that match, starting middle attacker senior Matt Denmark was involved in a car crash that sent him, his parents and a team trainer to the hospital. Walton said the news shook his team before the game and was a huge distraction.
"We'd really like to give Lewis their first conference loss," Walton said. "We'd like to put fear into them (before the MIVA tournament)."
Ball State's first match of the week comes Monday against Clarke, who is winless in the MIVA and 4-11 overall. The Cardinals beat the Crusaders 3-0 the first time the teams met, Jan. 31.
"Against Clarke, we'll play different people to stay as fresh as possible before going to war with Lewis," Walton said.
After the two conference matches, the Cardinals will head west to play in the Long Beach Tournament, hosted by Long Beach State. Southern California and Penn State will also play in the tourney.
Ball State plays No. 8 Long Beach State (11-7) first on March 15. The next night, the Cardinals will play USC (3-14). The team will not play Penn State because the event is set up so the two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation schools, Long Beach and USC, don't play each other.
The Cardinals are coming off a win against IPFW in straight sets that Walton hopes is a turning point in the season. He said the road trip should show if his team has changed.
"This stretch (of games) is going to be difficult," Walton said. "It's going to be the true test to see if we've reached a turning point. I think we'll handle it."
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