Dave Carlson has endured his share of ups and downs in his first season playing volleyball at Ball State. The junior setter worked to learn the quirks of a new team, suffered a back injury, then managed to earn the volleyball team's highest hitting percentage of the season.
But Carlson has had to overcome obstacles both before and at Ball State to be what head coach Joel Walton calls one of the best players on the team.
Carlson grew up in a volleyball family. His father, Jim, coaches volleyball and his two brothers, 10 and 8 years older than him, played volleyball when they were growing up.
However, Carlson was the only one who flew every weekend from his home in Coon Rapids, Minn., to play club volleyball in Chicago his junior year of high school.
"To me, what that says is that Dave is someone with a great passion for the game of volleyball," Walton said.
Carlson continued traveling for the game, flying to Milwaukee every weekend his senior year of high school to play club volleyball.
A love of beach volleyball helped Carlson decide to attend California's Long Beach State University, which had the No. 3 men's volleyball team in the 2001 season.
Carlson started as a freshman but lost his setter position when he broke his ankle. After two months of recovering, he came back to find he had been replaced and decided to take a break from the game.
"I was all screwed up with the whole thing not working out in California, and I wanted to go home and figure things out for a semester," Carlson said.
He transferred to the University of Minnesota for a semester, where he met some Ball State volleyball alumni, including Scott Oeth and Todd Reimer. After hearing their experiences, he contacted the university about playing for Ball State.
Walton had already looked at Carlson during his senior year of high school, but the Cardinals had Keith Schunzel, a sophomore at the time, in the setter position.
By the time Carlson took a second look at BSU, Schunzel was entering his last year playing and Walton was in search of another setter.
He faced two problems right away in coming to Ball State, though.
The team was one of six teams that the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics had been advised in June 2003 to cut.
"It scared me to death," he said, but he worked with the rest of the players to gather petitions against the cut, and the team was spared in July.
Also, because he had transferred to Ball State, NCAA rules required he sit out two semesters, so he couldn't play during the 2004 season.
"It was probably a tough thing for him," Walton said. "He wanted to be able to compete right away."
Instead, the setter worked with the second unit and helped turn the backups into a competitive force against the starting players, Walton said.
"Keith ... said to me 'I'm glad Dave's not eligible to play this year because he's awfully good,'" Walton said.
Although he had practiced with the team for a year, Carlson struggled this season with the other starting players, he said. Most of the starting unit returned from last season, meaning he hadn't practiced with them.
"It's taken him awhile to get used to all the players on his side of the net," Walton said.
The junior has especially struggled to work and communicate with the middle attackers, Walton has said throughout the season.
Carlson also had to get used to a different style of coaching than what he was used to at Long Beach State.
"The coach at Beach was a yeller, the kind of guy who would really motivate you," he said. "Joel is the ying to his yang.
"He's the, 'You guys have got to be self-motivated.'"
He faced another setback when he injured his back at the Feb. 4 match against Brigham Young.
Despite all these problems, Walton said Carlson is one of the few good all-around players on the team. He struggles with his serve and has improved his blocking, but Walton said he presents a good threat as a digger.
As the Cards head into what could be their last match of the season in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Association semifinal against Ohio State, Carlson said he would continue to work on improving his game, including his jump serve and his hand technique on sets.
He also wants to work on being a leader, he said.
"All the guys on the team need a leader," he said. "No one's really stepped up."
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