The gymnastics team has struggled all season with its scores, especially in the past three meets. Ball State has yet to score above a 192 total this season after doing so eight times last year.
The reason is their absence of consistency, head coach Mary Roth said.
"That's our whole downfall -- a total lack of consistency," Roth said.
Ball State (2-12, 0-3 Mid-American Conference) will have another chance to turn things around on Saturday during a conference matchup at Eastern Michigan (2-6, 2-2).
The team's inconsistency has forced Roth to focus on working with her gymnasts' routines in practice.
"The whole thing is trying to get them consistent," Roth said.
Adding to the team's woes are injuries. Senior Kelli Davis and sophomore Jenna Tarkington, two of the team's top all-arounders, were unable to compete during the Cards' last meet at West Virginia. Davis hurt her ankle during practice a few days before the meet, and Tarkington injured her arm warming up for the meet.
"Kelli is gonna go back in this week," Roth said. "I don't want to put her back in too soon and hurt her. So she's probably not going to do beam or floor so that when we have our second home meet she can do all-around."
Tarkington will not compete on Saturday. The extent of her injury is not yet known, but Roth doubts she will be back before Spring Break.
"Jenna we don't know about yet," Roth said. "It might not be as bad as we thought it was. Her arms are already losing their swelling and she's already gaining mobility in both arms.
"Maybe she'll be ready to compete by the time Spring Break rolls around. I'd be really surprised if she would be able to compete in one event at our last home meet" on March 5.
The impact of the loss of Davis and Tarkington was felt during the Cardinals previous meet at West Virginia. Ball State only managed a score of 190.975, over four points behind West Virginia and nearly six points behind the winner, Penn State.
"With both (Davis and Tarkington) in, I feel there would have been a big difference in our team score at West Virginia," Roth said.
Ball State will look to rely on its depth to turn things around. Winning a conference meet could prove vital for the team's confidence.
"I think it's very important, not because it's a conference meet, but because we need to start getting on the ball of being confident and knowing that we can win," assistant coach TeShawn Jackson said. "It will just get the ball rolling for us in the next weeks to come for us to realize that we can win, we can do this."
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