This weekend will prove if the men's volleyball team is reallyas good as its record and No. 8 ranking show, head coach JoelWalton said.
The Cardinals (13-3, 6-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate VolleyballAssociation) face Loyola-Chicago on the road Friday, then travel toClarke on Saturday. Coming off their first conference and home lossof the season, a 3-0 defeat by Lewis at home Tuesday, BSU takes theroad tests on just three days rest.
"Right now we're gonna see here in our next couple of matcheswhere our team's heart lies and what they're made of," Waltonsaid.
Walton said his team struggled defensively against Lewis and hewants to see the Cards turn it around at Loyola.
"What I want to see out of them is a response when we step outon the court at Loyola of just being ready to play a moreconsistent match and being ready to execute our game plan betterthan we did here tonight
(against Lewis)," Walton said.
Walton and senior setter Keith Schunzel said Loyola (10-6, 5-3MIVA) is the toughest place to get a victory in the conference.Walton said the gym's small size in something the Cardinals aren'tused to. They're accustomed to playing in spacious WorthenArena.
"Loyola's going to be a hostile environment," Walton said. "It'salways really loud. The crowd's right on you. It's a bitunsettling."
Ball State has lost six straight matches at Loyola. The lasttime the Cards won in the Ramblers' Alumni Gym was a 3-1 victoryJan. 18, 1997. No player on BSU's roster has won there.
"In there you've got to be completely focused and you've got tohave so much will to win," Schunzel said. "It's a really, reallyhard place to play and we haven't figured out how to win yet upthere."
Walton said Ball State must correct the poor serving that led topoor defense in the loss to Lewis. The Cardinals had 11 serviceerrors in the match against only two aces.
"Serving, blocking and digging, those are the three parts ofdefense and there wasn't any of them that we did a great job of,"Walton said. "We need to be ready to go in there and try and findsome rhythm that we can sustain throughout the entire match."
After the battle at Loyola, BSU faces Clarke (4-9, 0-9 MIVA), ateam in last place of the league. Walton said he will toy with thelineup a bit against the Crusaders. He said sophomore Scott Bushongwill start in place of sophomore Zoran Grabovac, who has beenbothered by tendonitis in his right knee. Walton also wants to playfreshman Patrick Durban more.
In his only start of his career, Bushong recorded eight killsand a team-high five blocks March 4 against PuertoRico-Mayaguez.
Before falling to Lewis, Ball State's only two losses came tothen-No. 3 Hawaii. The Cardinals were also undefeated in the MIVA.Now, they're coming off two sub-par performances in a row. Waltonsaid he's changing up the team's offense to avoid a let down in thesecond-half of the season.
"We've gotten off to these kinds of starts to seasons and runinto a spring break where we don't play very well, we didn'tcompete very well and we lose the majority of our matches," Waltonsaid. "I certainly don't want that to be the trend. I don't wantour team to be one that is known for getting off to great startsand then, as the season wears on, we go away.
"We're just putting in a few new wrinkles (to our offense) sothat, hopefully our guys will respond and we'll throw these changesat our opponents and hopefully catch them off guard."
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