Although head coach Joel Walton said the men's volleyball teamstill has some areas to work on, he said he's pleased with theprogress the Cardinals showed in the preseason.
"Our young team has shown signs of competitiveness and goodability this preseason," Walton said.
The Cardinals won two matches Sunday to close out the preseason.They beat both NAIA Lindenwood and Midwestern IntercollegiateVolleyball Association rival Quincy 3-1. Ball State finished thepreseason 8-1, not including three scrimmages with Ohio State,Lindenwood and alumni.
The Cardinals are off until Jan. 12, when they open the regularseason at home against Newman University.
BSU won the first set against Lindenwood. It then lost thesecond set and won sets three and four. Each of the final threesets went over the 30-point limit and were decided bytwo-points.
"I was really proud of our guys," Walton said. "Lindenwood wasvery good. We had a really good offensive performance, and theywere still right there with us."
In the match, the Cardinals hit .404, well above their goal of.300. Ball State had four players with double-digit kill totals,led by senior outside attacker Jary Delgado and sophomore outsideattacker Evan Berg with 16 a piece.
Sophomore middle attacker Zoran Grabovac had 12 kills and hit.550 against Lindenwood.
Against Quincy, a team at the bottom of the MIVA last year, BallState lost the first set 27-30. The Cardinals bounced back and wonthe next three straight, 30-27, 30-21, 30-22.
Freshman outside attacker Nick Meyer led the Cardinals againstQuincy with 15 kills. Delgado added 11 kills and hit .318. For thematch, BSU hit .345.
The Cardinals played both matches without sophomore outsideattacker Luis Castera, who Walton said was projected to start inJanuary. Castera was suspended last week for academic reasons.
Because Castera was gone, Walton had to adjust the line-up. Theresult left the Cardinals strong in the middle, but weak on theoutside, Walton said.
"Without Luis, we're really thin on the outside," Walton said."We're hoping Luis will figure things out academically before theend of the semester."
While Walton said he was pleased with his team this preseason,he admitted it has a lot to work on. Blocking and serving are twoareas that need improvement, he said. The Cardinals have a long twomonths ahead of them, Walton added.
"As we go into the regular season, we have some things to figureout about the (conference) teams we haven't seen this season,"Walton said. "We have a whole lot of things to learn. We've got ourwork cut out for us."
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