Even though the men's volleyball team is back in first-place in its conference, the Cardinals know they still have a tough road ahead of them.
That road takes them to Romeoville, Ill. to square off with defending national champion Lewis on Sunday. The Cardinals will first face Findlay (14-12, 3-9 MIVA) at home Friday.
Lewis beat up Ball State at home March 9, winning in straight sets, in what head coach Joel Walton called one of the worst games the Cardinals played this season.
"It was a match where just about anything that could go wrong did," Walton said. "That night we just didn't play a very good match."
The loss sent the Cardinals into a rut, losing four of their next five matches. Now that the team has won two in a row and is back in first place of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, Ball State needs to win to stay atop the conference standings.
Lewis (13-11, 8-3 MIVA) won five in a row starting with the victory at Ball State. Excluding the Cardinals, however, the teams Lewis beat were all in the bottom half of the MIVA standings. If the Flyers win on Sunday, they will be tied with Ball State for second place in the conference.
At the start of the season, Lewis lost two players from last season's championship squad. The Cardinals are quick to point out that this year's Flyers are not the same caliber as last year's team.
"We've got to get the name 'Lewis' out of our head," sophomore libero Evan Berg said. "We think 'Lewis' and we think 'national champs,' but they're not the same team."
Ball State hit .231 in the first match with the Flyers and had 11 serving errors. Despite their poor play in that match, the Cardinals are confident heading to Lewis.
"Our team is good enough to win the match even though we're going to go on the road," Walton said. "However, it's something that this team has to decide they want to do."
Berg said the Cardinals want to win Sunday to get revenge for their only home loss of the season.
"We're upset about the loss because it was at our own house," Berg said. "For us to play the way we did in that match, we weren't too happy. Hopefully we can play the way we know we can (at Lewis)."
Ball State has six matches left, five of them against conference opponents. Friday's match with Findlay will be the Cardinals' last MIVA match at home. They're on the road for their final four conference matchups.
"(The Lewis match) is real big because we have some tough road matches ahead," Berg said. "If we can steal one from Lewis, that would give us a big jump ahead in the conference. It would be a big boost for us in the right direction."
Starting middle attacker Zoran Grabovac, who has struggled with tendonitis in his knee all season, sat out Wednesday's practice because of stiffness in his knee. A doctor will evaluate him today to see if he can play on Friday.
Grabovac will start if he is available, Walton said. Walton said junior Andrew Braley will most likely start at the other middle attacker position, but sophomore Scott Bushong is another option.
"I'm wavering a little bit between Braley and Bushong right now," Walton said. "Scott has done some pretty good things when given the opportunity recently."
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