The Ball State men's volleyball team will try to end its troubled road slate on a good note this weekend against two dconference foes.
"We've struggled a bit on the road this year, and I think that's the function this year of our team being young," head coach Joel Walton said.
The Cardinals, whose road record is 4-10, travel to IPFW today looking prevent a fourth-place tie in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association with the Mastodons. BSU (13-13, 8-5 MIVA) beat the Mastodons (9-13, 7-5 MIVA) 3-1 at home in February.
This time, the Cards will have to defeat IPFW in Hilliard Gates Sport Center, which is known for drawing crowds of 1,000.
Walton said for his team to win, it will need to stay focused on its goals, one of which is stopping outside attacker Matt Zbyszewski and middle attacker Serdar Sikca.
"Those guys really carry the majority of their offense," he said.
The Cards' kill-leader Nick Meyer, who has been out with an injured ankle for two weeks, is questionable to play and will not start. Ball State will have to make use of its middle attackers to compensate for this loss, Walton said.
"That will keep IPFW off balance," he said.
The Cards continue their road weekend Saturday at Mercyhurst (9-10, 5-9 MIVA), who Ball State defeated 3-0 at home last weekend.
"The good thing is we should be somewhat comfortable because we saw them a week ago," Walton said. "The danger in that is we saw them at home.
"If we go out too relaxed ... we could get into a knock-down, drag-out match."
Ball State will need to improve its blocking to shut down the Lakers' offense. The Cards struggled with allowing points because of bad blocks when they played Mercyhurst last weekend.
"One of their middle attackers, Justin Was, just really bashes balls at the block," Walton said.
With two matches left in the regular season after this weekend, both will affect the Cards' standing in the MIVA.
"To be able to beat [IPFW] and then come back the next night against Mercyhurst -- that would be a real nice step for our team to take," Walton said.
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