Ball State's No. 9 men's volleyball team will see the two extremes of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association this weekend.
On one end of the conference is Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, who the Cardinals play Friday. The No. 10 Mastadons (6-1, 4-0 MIVA) are undefeated in the conference, including a win over Ohio State and two wins over defending national champion Lewis.
Ball State (8-2, 2-0) heads to Erie, Pa. Saturday to face Mercyhurst, a team on the other end of the MIVA spectrum. The Lakers (5-6, 0-4) haven't won a single game in conference, much less an entire match.
BSU head coach Joel Walton said he set up the Cardinals' schedule so they played better teams on Fridays and lesser teams on Saturdays.
"I wanted our guys to be fresh for our better opponents each weekend this year," Walton said. "Then, if we were a little tired on the second day, hopefully that opponent wouldn't push us as hard as our first-night match."
Friday's match versus IPFW is big in determining who is the front-runner for this season's MIVA championship. Walton said the regular-season championship will come down to who can win the most road games.
"One team is going to step up and, at least early on, say 'we are the team to beat this year,'" Walton said.
This is the Ball State's first conference road game of the year. Last season, the Cardinals lost in straight sets at IPFW, 30-25, 31-29, 30-25.
Coaches of both teams say the two have developed a rivalry, mainly because the proximity of the schools. The Mastadons are Ball State's closest opponent, 82 miles north on I-69. Walton said the rivalry also stems from Ball State and IPFW being two of the three oldest teams in the MIVA.
"For the past 25 years, every time we've played Ball State, it's been a big match," Mastadons head coach Arnie Ball said.
Ball said matches with Ball State are ones he looks forward to during the season. He said it's fun to coach against the Cardinals because he's known Ball State people for 35 years.
When the Cardinals hit the road this weekend, they will take with them MIVA Player of the Week Jary Delgado. The senior outside attacker won the award for his 29 kills, 20 digs and seven blocks he recorded last weekend in victories over Loyola-Chicago and Clarke.
Delgado's family came from Puerto Rico for Parents' Weekend last week. It was the second time his family had seen him play in college and was an inspiration for him, he said. He added that winning the award was a team effort.
"It shows that we're doing a good job," Delgado said. "We're playing more consistent and our ball control is getting better.
"We're going to need to serve better, though, to win at IPFW."
Walton said it can be tough to get a win at IPFW. The gym is small, so the fans are closer to the court. Plus the Mastadons can draw a large crowd.
On Jan. 17, in its game against George Mason, 3,234 fans crowded IPFW's gym. That's the ninth largest crowd to watch an NCAA men's volleyball game this season and the second largest by a team other than Hawaii. The Mastadons have also had crowds of 1,329 and 1,278 this season.
"It's pretty easy for them to get into our players' heads," Walton said. "There's a good amount of verbiage that is coming from their crowd, directed toward our guys."
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