Ball State will begin MAC play on Saturday against Toledo. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday before playing a final game on Sunday.
"I think we have a whole lot more parity within the MAC than we have ever had," said coach Terri Laux, whose team stands at 10-19. "It used to be you'd go to someplace and expect to get two or three games out of them, and it's not like that anymore."
Only four teams in the MAC have overall winning records, as Northern Illinois boasts the best record at 15-9.
The reasons for the equality in the MAC teams are not a mistake. The combination of new coaches and better players has led to the evenness of the teams.
"We've gotten some new coaches in," Laux said. "I think the sport in general across the country has gotten a lot better. Kids are starting at a younger age to play. They're getting better coaching for the most part, so by the time we get them, they're much better than they used to be."
The Cardinals should benefit from the balance and evenness of the MAC. BSU has struggled at times during the non-conference schedule, but has shown signs of improved play as of late. The Cards won consecutive games for the first time this season on Tuesday in a sweep of IUPUI.
Laux said she doesn't expect to see many sweeps this season in conference play due to the parity of the teams.
"You're not going to see a whole lot of sweeps this year," she said. "Teams that haven't been close in games are close or they're winning. So it just goes back to there's a whole lot of parity this year."
Toledo (15-15) has already played six conference games this season, winning just one. Luax said the Rockets are an example of the equality in the MAC, as Toledo has improved in the past few years.
"I think we should be confident in our play, but the one thing that we need to keep in mind is that there is no easy game in the conference any more," she said. "Toledo is a much-improved program. Their coach has done a great job with them in a matter of three years. We're gonna have to fight when we go up there. We want to get started off on a good foot in conference play."
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