The Ball State women's volleyball team has spent its opening month of the season barnstorming the country, going to tournaments in California, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
After posting a 4-7 record in their first 11 matches, the Cardinals are more than ready to come home this weekend to face the Northern Illinois Huskies tonight and the Toledo Rockets on Saturday night.
"I've been doing this a lot of years, and home openers are always great," head coach Randy Litchfield said. "Now I've got a team that has been through a lot of trials and tribulations, and being at home is going to be a great motivator."
In the past, Worthen Arena has provided a strong home court advantage. Ball State has not lost a match to a Mid-American Conference opponent since 1997.
"Worthen Arena has been as good as it has to us because ... our fans are terrific," Litchfield said. "They are definitely the best in conference, and ... we're usually a pretty good team. The combination of the two makes it a great place to play."
Ball State will have also have time in the gym going for it this weekend. The Cardinals have focused on sharpening their skills and resting up over the past week and a half because they haven't played a match.
"It has really been nice," Litchfield said. "We've gotten enough rest to get healthier, but we've also been able to really push the team in some practices."
According to Litchfield, the team is the healthiest it has been all season, but certain members are going through very trying times.
Redshirt freshman outside attacker Stephanie Bacan recently received bad news about her surgically repaired right knee.
"Steph Bacan is out for the season, and we're looking at the possibility of her career perhaps being over," Litchfield said.
At best, according to Litchfield, more damage to Bacan's knee needs time to heal itself. There are worries, though, that her knee has deteriorated so far that continuing to play volleyball would harm her long-term health.
While losing a player is a blow to the team, Litchfield, who underwent similar circumstances in his mid-twenties, is more concerned with Bacan as an individual.
"I don't care what it does to the team," he said. "It takes the wind out of my sails that a 19 year old is in this kind of situation."
Of course, no one is taking the news harder than Bacan herself.
"She's hurt," Litchfield said. "She wants to play maybe more than any player I've ever had. It is why she left western Iowa and came to eastern Indiana."
The Cardinals have little choice now but to carry on without her as they head into the MAC.
"Team morale isn't at its highest right now," Litchfield said, "but we'll suck it up. We're not going to quit."
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