The Ball State University women's volleyball team ended a winless four-game home stand Saturday night. The Cardinals [6-14, 3-5 MAC] lost 3-1 to Northern Illinois University [14-5, 7-1 MAC].
After winning the first game 30-27, the Cardinals dropped the next three 16-30, 24-30, 25-30.
The Cardinals were led by freshman Julie Breivogel. Breivogel had 19 kills and a 30.8 attack percentage. At the opposite end senior Kelly Cochran led both teams with 10 errors.
Freshman Cassie Conner started in place of redshirt junior Angie Parrell as the Cardinals' setter. Litchfield said that he was unhappy with some of his players and continues to jostle the Cardinals' lineup in order to find one that can win.
"We got a couple of people who are too consistently dogging it right now," Litchfield said.
Litchfield also said that he would like to make wholesale changes to his team's lineup, but does not believe he has the roster depth to do that.
"We have some gigantic character problems," Litchfield said. "If I had other options I would be going with them right now."
Saturday's loss to Northern Illinois came one day after the Cardinals dropped another home contest against Western Michigan University three sets to one.
Ball State lost after failing to close out a win in the fourth set as Western Michigan rallied from a 29-25 deficit to win the match 33-31.-á
"Unfortunately, that's Ball State volleyball this year," Litchfield said. "We don't compete for the tough points very well. When we got a team down 29-25, you know they're going to be desperate. They're going to play as hard as they've played all night, and we don't have it in us right now to play those hard points."
Litchfield said that the team loses focus when in tough situations.-á
"I was fairly disgusted with how we compete for points at crunch-time," Litchfield said. "The emotional level drops. The bigger the points get, the more lethargic and the more pitiful we look. So, I'm pretty upset by that."
Cochran said that the team has to continue to fight even when it appears to have control.-á
"We just didn't execute when we had the lead," Cochran said. "We aren't the type of team that has it secured just because we have a three point, two point lead. So we need to buckle down and get tough."
The Cardinals are at the midpoint of the Mid-American Conference season with a 3-5 record. However, Litchfield says he expects his team to finish 11-5, winning the final eight matches and finish the season with an overall record of 14-14.
The Cardinals now stand just 3-6 in Worthen Arena, causing some of the players to begin looking forward to playing outside of Muncie.
"I'm glad we are getting back on the road," Cochran said.
The Cardinals will play the next four matches on the road, with the first coming against Central Michigan University this upcoming Friday in Mount Pleasant, Mich.-á
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