In the midst of a three-match losing streak, Ball State (17-9,10-4) can still earn the No. 2 seed in the Mid-American ConferenceTournament and a first-round bye with a win over Eastern Michigan(15-10, 10-4) on Friday.
The Cardinals will also face Toledo (16-11, 5-9) on Saturday inthe team's last regular season match of the year. Seniors StephanieKeller, Stacie Baldwin and Melissa Oliver will be honored after thematch.
While the team is faced with recovering from the loss of juniorSarah Obras, head coach Randy Litchfield said the first thing thatwill help will be playing junior Rachel Refenes all the way throughthe rotation, instead of substituting her out of the back row.
"First off all, to help us get the fire back, we need peoplethat are on fire, on the court more often," Litchfield said.
This will not be the first time Refenes has played that role.Earlier in the season when defensive specialist Stephanie Bacan wasout, Refenes played all the way through the rotation.
Another way the Cardinals can help fill the void is by steppingup their defense, specifically their blocking. The past threematches the Cardinals have averaged 5.8 blocks, while theiropponents have averaged 16.
"Those are easy points, you love service aces and you loveblocking, because they're quick and painless points," Litchfieldsaid. "Yet for your opponents, they're quick and painful.
"Sarah is not our best blocker, all of our great blockers arestill out on the floor."
Strong blocking will only add to the team's defense, which isalready strong because of Keller's performance from the liberoposition. Against Miami on Wednesday she continued to bail theCardinals out of trouble, finishing with 21 digs.
"Stephanie is everybody's hero, yet part of this team's fault islooking to her and hoping that she rescues us," Litchfield said."Stephanie has played two matches in a row right now with theweight of the world crushing her and it's up to a whole bunch of usto take some of that weight off."
If Ball State does not defeat Eastern Michigan tonight, it wouldneed to beat Toledo and possibly get help to earn a first-roundbye.
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