Following a 3-2 win over Miami, head coach Randy Litchfield said that the upcoming opponents would see his team as "beatable" and compared them to sharks in the water smelling blood.
Litchfield might be considered a profit. Ball State University looked sluggish, made a large amount of errors and generally under-performed in a 3-0 loss to Bowling Green on Saturday night.
"They came after us," he said. "We go through collapses. A lot of it is setting mistakes, but then it turns into a team comedy of errors. That's why sometimes our stats don't tell the stories with us.
"We just play really ugly sometimes."
The loss was the first of the Cardinals Mid-American Conference season, and the first home loss since Valparaiso in the Active Ankle Classic in 2004. It was the first time the Falcons (6-6, 1-1 MAC) beat the Cardinals (7-5, 1-1 MAC) since a 3-2 Bowling Green win in 1992.
"We've got so much work to do," Litchfield said. "We've got to work with Angie [Parrell], who is just all over the place as a setter. She's just great, bad, great, bad +â-¡- we've got to stabilize that situation. But, she'll do nothing but get better."
Senior Rachel Refenes, who leads the team with 4.40 kills per game, played briefly in game one but was benched for the rest of the match.
"Rachel's got some things to learn about being part of a team," Litchfield said. "And I don't mind losing matches to teach lessons. Winning isn't that important to me."
In her place, sophomore Brittany May tied her career high with 11 kills and added a solo block and a three-block assist, and junior Heather Burleson added four kills in her first action since Sept. 6.
"The benefit of this team over the last couple of years has been we can play," Litchfield said. "I think we've got too many people sitting back and not taking a willing role in leading us. But, you know, I think we're finding someone in Brittany May - that's such a positive thing for the team. Heather Burleson - we're just crazy for not going for her; she's just such an athlete and completely eager to play."
The loss came just one day after senior Sarah Obras led the Cardinals to a hard fought 3-2 win over the RedHawks. Obras, who suffered an ACL injury against the RedHawks that ended her season last year, racked up 23 kills and a .298 hitting percentage over the Cards.
"I'd be lying to say that I didn't have a little bit of help from that," she said. "I had a lot going for me."
"You always got to get ready for MAC, and I get so excited when MAC starts, 'cause this is what matters."
Obras' 23 kills were the best since she put up 26 against Western Michigan on Oct. 1, 2004.
Litchfield said he plans to make wholesale changes to the lineup before the Cardinals face Toledo, who swept both teams the Cardinals faced this weekend in Worthen Arena on Thursday.
"We'll be looking at a completely different lineup next weekend," he said. "There's no sense to struggle three matches in a row and stick with the same line up. We've just got too many good players."
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