During the preseason, men's volleyball head coach Joel Walton knew this season would be a challenge. He has just two regular starters returning on a young team that includes five freshmen and five sophomores.
With the Cardinals opening their season tonight against Newman in Worthen Arena, Walton now faces an even tougher challenge. The Cardinals lost two players over winter break at middle attacker, a position Walton said they were already thin at.
"We're going to be a little more challenged," Walton said. "Even more challenged than we had originally expected."
The Cardinals lost Luis Castera, a projected starter at outside attacker, because of grades. Castera had been suspended in the preseason so he could bring his grades up, which he did not do. He is academically ineligible to compete this season.
Mike Allen, another outside attacker who was on the team last fall, but not last spring, left Ball State. Walton would not comment on why.
The two losses forced the Cardinals to activate freshman Patrick Durban to their roster. Patrick, a middle attacker, was going to be redshirted this year and moved to outside attacker. Walton wanted to give him a year to learn the position.
Walton also brought back Kenny Cook, who played for the team last season but sat out this season because he didn't foresee any playing time. With two of the players ahead of Cook gone, Walton asked him to rejoin the team.
"It certainly was a tumultuous December trying to figure out what our roster was going to be and figuring out our depth, particularly at the outside attacking position," Walton said.
The Cardinals have put December behind them and are now focusing on tonight's first ever matchup with Newman. The starting lineup will be Durbin, Jary Delgado, Nick Meyer, Keith Schunzel, Zoran Grabovac, Amitai Sasson and Evan Berg. Delgado and Schunzel are the only starters from last year's team.
Newman is an NAIA school in Wichita, Kan. Walton said he scheduled a smaller school to get his young team used to competition before it has to face George Mason, Rutgers and Penn State in a row.
"I thought it would be a good match for us to start our season with," Walton said. "It gives us a chance to get our feet wet and get a match under our belt before we start playing our next three matches which are tough East Coast opponents."
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